Beautiful Stranger
by SplendentGoddess
Summary: Desperate to get over a bad breakup, Kagome lets Sango talk her into having a night of fun in the form of a one-night-stand. She meets the perfect candidate in the form of a hanyou who initially mistakes her motives for financial in nature. Oops, did I say this was just supposed to be a one-night-stand?
1. Rebound, here we come!

Blanket Disclaimer:

Inuyasha, and the characters therein, are the property of Rumiko Takahashi. I am in no way affiliated with Takahashi, or VIZ Productions.

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A/N:

What's this? A new story that's _not_ for either Halloween or Christmas?! It's a miracle! LOL, actually, I've had this story sitting _almost_ finished on my hard drive for quite a while now, so I finally just made myself _finish_ it.

You're welcome!

This is an Americanized modern-day AU in a world where youkai and humans peacefully co-exist, though they usually stick to their own circles. Humans with spiritual powers are considered the mortal equivalent to daiyoukai, the most powerful of the humans, just as youkai come in varying levels of strength, although spiritual humans and regular humans tend to get along together just fine, as do more powerful youkai with weaker species. Everyone knows their place in society and nobody questions it.

Humans and youkai intermixing, on the other hand, is usually still met with prejudice on both sides, even though in higher society most everyone is usually too sophisticated to resort to vulgar insults or, kami forbid, physical violence. Among the lower classes a confrontation by unsupportive family members is far from unheard of, but while well-bred individuals of either race will still look down upon an interracial relationship as scandalous, and hanyou offspring as shameful, they will do so through shallow smiles and subtle behaviors, never daring to voice such opinions out loud, at least while out in public. Lucky is the hanyou born into high society; they are at least spoken to with respect to their faces, false as it may be.

Hanyou are sterile in this universe, in any form, which is something that everyone takes as a sign from the kami meant to prove that the two species are _not_ supposed to interbreed, although there are no laws against it and hanyou are fully protected under both human and youkai legal rights.

That's enough universe info I'd say…on with the show!

Oh and PS, as per usual, I've edited the sex scenes in this version to more conform with the M rating, with the versions on MM and AFF being wholly uncensored and rated MA/X, ya know, if you're into that sort of thing. ;-)

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Chapter 1 – Rebound, here we come!

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"I'm not so sure about this, Sango," Kagome sighed for the umpteenth time as she sat in the passenger seat of her personal trainer and best friend's car, as Sango drove the two of them to one of the more…friendly…establishments in town.

"Oh please," the older girl argued from the driver's seat, chuckling a little to herself at the way Kagome self-consciously tugged at the bottom hem of her dress. "What would you rather do? Cry over what an asshole Hojo turned out to be in the privacy of your own bedroom for the next ten years?"

"Not for _that_ long, but basically, yes," the twenty-three-year-old miko answered defiantly with a playful cross of her arms, causing her friend to laugh.

"Forget about it. You need to take your mind off of him," Sango insisted, "and the best way to do _that_ is by meeting somebody new!" Changing lanes she laughed again and said, "Rebound, here we come!"

Kagome laughed a little bit despite herself at her friend's enthusiasm.

Sango had always been there for her, ever since they first met when Kagome was around thirteen years old. Sango was technically employed by Kagome, but she was no servant, and _she_ got to tell _Kagome_ what to do. On the mat, at least. For generations Sango's family had owned and operated their own private dojo, a higher end establishment for the elite, and for generations the various members of the Higurashi family had been going there to train, as spiritual powers and physical training often went hand in hand.

Despite their age difference, Kagome had befriended Sango almost right away, when her father had first started bringing her to the dojo just to check things out. Not long after, Kagome had started going there regularly for her own training, and had requested Sango as her trainer. From the then sixteen-year-old's point of view, she had also hit it off right away with the young miko, and so Sango had not only been happy to train her, she'd also started going over to the Higurashi's home on her days off, so that she and Kagome could just hang out together as friends.

Both girls had easily been able to switch back and forth between BFF mode and teacher/student mode, even at such young ages, and it was the same relationship they still enjoyed to that day. Kagome still trained with Sango on a regular basis, but as soon as Sango was off the clock she switched over from sensei to friend, which was exactly what Kagome needed in that moment, after the rather spectacular breakup she'd just recently experienced.

Kagome's father had thought that Hojo would be perfect for her, the young man also possessing spiritual powers and thus ensuring that any future children the two of them had would almost definitely possess such powers as well. If her father had had his way in the beginning, it would have been an old fashioned arranged marriage, but fortunately, it _was_ the 21st century, and Kagome was therefore allowed to speak her own mind; her mother had seen to that.

Personalities ran strongly in the women of their family, or so her mother had told her comfortingly when Hojo had started to show his true stripes, that of a man who would _not_ tolerate his wife having her own say in…well, just about anything.

And they hadn't even been engaged yet! Not officially, anyway. Kagome knew that was what both of their fathers had wanted, but all she had actually agreed to, after the initial blind date was a success, was becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. Hojo had seemed nice enough to give him an honest chance, and she hadn't been opposed to the idea of marrying him, but she'd still wanted to get to know him better first. She'd told him so, that they could 'see where their relationship led' and in _her_ mind, that had made it obvious she wasn't committing to anything just yet.

But apparently not in his.

At no point in time had he ever actually proposed to her. Nor had she ever specifically told him that yes, she had decided she would marry him. He'd just started talking about marriage as if it were a foregone conclusion, like they had been betrothed all along. She might not have minded so much if it weren't for the fact that, apparently after _he'd_ decided that _she_ was a keeper, his personality had started to change. _That_ had been the deciding factor for her, and looking back on it, she was definitely grateful he hadn't maintained his mask until after the wedding, or she just might have actually married the guy...and _immediately_ regretted it.

He'd been super sweet in the beginning, and she actually had started to fall for him. If he'd stayed the same sweet man he'd been in the beginning then all his talk about marriage would have been kind of sweet, too, and she would have probably ended up agreeing that her father knew best. But instead, thankfully, Hojo's condescending nature had started to surface early on when, as he began talking about their future together, he completely disregarded and even downright belittled anything and everything Kagome'd said that had involved _her_ plans for the future. If _her_ plans did not fit in with _his_ plans then they were foolish plans that needed to be discarded, had obviously been his point of view.

But her plans weren't foolish in the slightest.

She was going to become a doctor.

A pediatrician to be precise, because she loved children, although she was in no particular hurry to have children of her own because she wanted to focus on her career first.

At first, early on in their relationship, she'd just mentioned it casually in passing, when he'd talked about her being his 'little woman' waiting for him at home. She'd initially informed him of her plans in a polite and nonchalant manner because of course he'd had no way of knowing until she told him. He wasn't a mind reader, after all. But the fact of the matter was that she was already going to medical school, and was so far doing quite well.

She'd thought he'd be proud of her to learn such things, and that he'd maybe even complement her in a backhanded way that only such a brilliant woman was good enough for him. Instead, Hojo's initial responses to her repeated insistence that she wanted her own career had been things like "Oh rubbish" or "Well you don't have to worry about that any longer" which had later progressed into "Enough of this foolishness" and a few other choice phrases that were all roundabout ways of him basically telling her he forbad it.

To say nothing of his reaction when, in response to telling her she no longer needed to worry about a career so that she could concentrate on being a mother to their children instead, her rebuttal had been that she had no intention of having children for several years yet. When she'd spelled it out for him that her goal was to complete medical school and a residency at a hospital before ultimately opening her own practice, and that she didn't plan on becoming a mother until after her own practice was established, he very condescendingly informed her that as a powerful miko it was her _responsibility_ to mother the next generation of reiki users and that _that_ was the only goal she should be focusing on.

His attitude honestly made her not want to have children at all. At least not with him.

Confiding in her mother once the real Hojo had started to show himself, Mrs. Higurashi hadn't hesitated to tell her baby girl to not let that boy make her shrivel up inside. She'd told her to stand up for herself and what she believed in, and that if Hojo was trying to suppress her fiery spirit then he was _definitely_ not the right man for her.

Her father had tried to object to her breaking it off with Hojo for all of five minutes, until Mrs. Higurashi had put a stop to that, as well. Not that she was the one who called all the shots in their own marriage, mind you. Mr. Higurashi was certainly no wimp and he _was_ the man of the house. But one of the things he honestly loved the most about his wife, and daughter, was their spirit, and so if Hojo really was no good for Kagome then so be it. Mr. Higurashi was a good man, and while he wanted what was best for his daughter, he also believed that what was best for her included her _happiness_.

If she was going to be miserable with Hojo then that was really all there was too it. She had her own plans for the future and her own life to live, and Mr. Higurashi knew he wouldn't have been happy, either, watching Hojo suck the life and spirit right out of her as she gave up on her dreams of becoming a doctor to conform to what _he_ wanted. Mr. Higurashi was proud of his daughter's life goals and she deserved a man who would stand beside her, not push her behind him.

And so in the end, Kagome had gotten her father's blessing to end the relationship.

Hojo's face had been rather amusing, Kagome recalled in that moment with another little laugh, as she thought back to how she'd told him what was what over lunch on the last date they would ever have.

The man had been yammering on about his own career plans for the future, as always, absolutely loving to hear himself talk, and Kagome had been polite enough, nodding where appropriate, until he'd opened the door for her by once again mentioning something about how she'd never want for anything because he'd take care of her and how she wouldn't have to lift a finger, yada yada yada.

Then she'd once again reminded him that she was already going to medical school. It just hadn't been cutting into their date time because she had waited to go on their first date at the beginning of summer break. Her second year was actually going to be starting fairly soon and then she wouldn't be able to have lunch with him every day anymore, she warned him. Needless to say he had _not_ been happy about the reminder, since he'd told her repeatedly to drop out and was upset to learn that she hadn't yet done so.

Honestly, how many times did he have to tell the girl to quit all that nonsense before it sank into that extra thick skull of hers that his wife's place was at home raising his children?

Kagome, of course, hadn't let him complete his first idiotic sentence, which had begun with "Look, Kagome-" before she'd pushed back from her chair and stood up at the table, letting everyone in the restaurant stare at them and the scandal that was unfolding as she'd told him in a stern yet relatively calm and quiet voice, "No, _you_ look. I am a _Higurashi_ , Hojo, and we don't roll over for _anyone_. I'm not dropping out of medical school, I'm going to become a doctor and once I have enough experience under my belt, I'm going to be opening my own private practice as a pediatrician. Not because I need the money, but because it's what I want to _do_ with my life. The Higurashi name has been known for generations, and you know what? I think it suits me. I believe I shall be staying a _Higurashi_ for years to come, Hojo, good day."

With that, she had swirled around and marched out the door, leaving him gaping like an idiot, a few scattered applause following her out of the semi-casual diner as she exited with her head held high, her aura giving away the fact that she was better, on paper, than everyone else in the establishment, though it was clear from her attitude that the only one _she_ felt she was better than was the man she'd just left to pay for her half-eaten lunch. He could afford it; their entire bill was less than an à la carte steak at the types of restaurants he preferred taking her to.

That had been another thing that had really started to bug her about Hojo. Money or not, sometimes she just liked having a regular ol' lunch in a regular ol' restaurant. It didn't always have to be three Michelin stars and executive chefs and valet parking. What was so wrong about having the occasional burger and fries?

Hojo usually turned his nose up to such things, insisting the lesser establishments weren't good enough for her, though he'd accommodated her on rare occasion when trying to get back on her good side. He'd been able to tell from the start of that particular date that something had been bothering her, and so he'd promised to take her wherever she wanted and she'd picked her favorite sandwich and burger place. Not that she wouldn't have made the same scene in a fancier restaurant, because she _would_ have, so Hojo was actually really lucky he had taken her to the cheaper place. At least he could still save face among his peers since nobody he knew had witnessed the disgrace.

She snorted softly to herself in amusement at the memory of his shell-shocked expression when she'd stormed out. It was the last time she'd laid eyes on him and that last memory of Hojo was definitely her favorite.

She had no regrets, except that he'd turned out to be the way he was. That he'd never contacted her after the breakup, had never attempted to apologize or win her back, let her know all she needed to about how he really felt, but that didn't mean a small part of her still wished things could have turned out differently.

If he'd truly loved her then he should have asked for a second chance once he realized he'd screwed up, telling her he'd let her have whatever kind of career she wanted so long as she would stay with him. Of course, one could also argue that if she'd loved him above all else she would have been willing to give up her career plans for his sake, so it was clear that neither of them had honestly loved the other as much as they really should have. She and Hojo were done, forever, and honestly, she was all right with that.

Which was why she had let herself be talked into going out on a 'girls night out to shame all other girls night outs' as Sango had put it. Kagome felt like the martial arts instructor had decided it was her own personal mission to get her friend laid, which explained the borrowed dress the miko was currently wearing. Grumbling under her breath about its length, or lack thereof, she gave it another useless tug.

Pulling to a stop in the valet lane out front of one of the swankiest hotels in the human side of town, which also just happened to have one of the most happening nightclubs, an establishment that had a rather 'playful' reputation, Sango handed her keys to the attendant while Kagome took a deep breath and did Independent Girl thing #1 by opening her own car door for herself and letting herself out of the car before the lot attendant had a chance to come around the vehicle and open the door for her instead. He still gave her a professional smile and bid her welcome to the hotel, of course, to which she nodded and thanked him politely, and then she and Sango were off, officially forgetting about her car for the rest of the night as the bellman followed after them with their two pieces of overnight luggage.

The game plan was that Kagome would get hammered while Sango chaperoned, making sure she didn't hook up with just _anybody_ although the ultimate goal was to hopefully hook up with _somebody_. That was why Sango had already made room reservations for herself and her friend in this very hotel. How much more convenient could it get than meeting a guy in a hotel nightclub and then informing him that you had a room in that very hotel?

As soon as she was sure that Kagome was in good hands, Sango would retire to her own room for the night – she was Kagome's drive back home, after all, so she wouldn't completely abandon her – or worst case scenario, if Kagome didn't end up meeting anybody one-night-stand worthy, then she and Kagome would crash together in the same room and stay up all night running up a huge room service tab on cake and ice cream while renting sad movies all night long. Ideally, Sango knew her friend needed to get laid, but if not that, then she needed a shoulder to cry on, and Sango would help her with either, in whatever way she could.

"Jeez, Sango, I can't even imagine how short this thing must be on you," Kagome mumbled discreetly about the deep red dress she had borrowed from the older and _taller_ woman as she tried and failed a third time to tug the skirt down lower on her legs. "It's too short for me and I'm almost a whole foot shorter than you!"

"Oh it's not too short for you. For me, maybe," Sango acquiesced with a playful shrug, "but it looks absolutely perfect on you. You look smoking."

"I look desperate."

"You _are_ desperate."

"Not _this_ desperate!" Laughing despite herself, Kagome gestured to herself again as she and Sango headed towards the registration desk.

Sango merely repeated that she looked good before approaching the desk clerk who'd called them over.

 _I look like a high end prostitute..._ Kagome thought to herself, although she didn't brave saying it out loud for fear of insulting her friend since it was Sango's dress.

The dress was a deep, crimson red, with a playful circle skirt that hit a little above the knee that moved with just the right amount of tease as she walked. The waist and sleeveless bodice were both fitted, the top of the dress featuring a wide collar that hung off her shoulders. She wasn't a fan of nylons so her smooth legs were bare, black high-heel sandals with ankle straps that matched her petite cocktail purse completing the look. It was simple yet screamed of elegance at the same time, especially since the dress, shoes and purse were all high end designer labels.

Her fingernails and toenails were perfectly pampered with classic white tips, and her diamond earrings, necklace and tennis bracelet all sparkled beautifully in the light while her raven hair was left more casual in a loose and wavy cascade that bounced as she walked and left parts of her neck and shoulders to the imagination.

Sango thought Kagome looked absolutely amazing.

Kagome thought she looked like a neon sign saying _come have sex with me_.

"This dress just screams 'I want you to come talk to me and then fuck me,'" the miko sighed dramatically a few minutes later, as she glanced at herself one last time in Sango's mirror, she and the martial artist taking a few minutes in each of their rooms to make sure their luggage got delivered.

Their rooms were not directly next to one another but were on the same floor just a bit down the hall from each other; they'd wanted that perfect balance of being close to each other without being close enough to _hear_ each other…you know, just in case.

"Well, yeah," Sango answered nonchalantly. "Why do you think I bought it?" Quirking a smile, she had a very 'And your point?' expression on her face. "It's not _my_ fault you didn't already own an appropriate dress for this evening and asked me to 'just bring whatever' when I volunteered to let you riffle through my closet."

Knowing Sango had a very good point, Kagome joined her friend in laughter when Sango giggled, the miko finally saying to hell with it. She did have to admit that she looked _good_ , and so what if it was totally scandalous, actually trying to hook up with a one-night-stand for the night?

This particular club was actually somewhat well known for that type of hooking up, hence the name of the establishment: Taboo. Maybe she _did_ need to get laid, just take her mind completely off of Hojo and get that whole 'rebound' thing out of her system like Sango had said. She should just let herself have a good time for tonight, so that she could then look towards the future and a possible new relationship at some point down the road without the ghost of her ex-boyfriend haunting her at every turn.

Mind made up, Kagome downed a shot from Sango's mini bar and was raring to go as she followed her friend, who was wearing a different but also equally alluring dress in dark purple, down to the club. Head held high, Kagome was bound and determined to have a good time tonight, consequences be damned.

"Rebound, here we come!" she said with another laugh, repeating what Sango had said during the drive.


	2. Birthday Boy

Chapter 2 – Birthday Boy

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"Remind me again why I'm here," Inuyasha grumbled over the thumping dance music, his ears plastered to his head.

"Because you love me?" Miroku answered, a twinkle in his eyes as he took a sip of his latest drink.

Inuyasha snorted. "Try again."

"Because I'm your only family member besides our mothers willing to be seen with you in public?"

Inuyasha snorted again, but didn't argue. It was true, after all.

"That doesn't explain why I'm _here,_ " the hanyou emphasized instead, giving his cousin a critical glare as he gestured to the nightclub around them. "Why _are_ we here?"

"Why not?" Miroku answered, bobbing his head a bit to the rhythm. "I thought maybe I could find you a date for the night. Consider it a belated birthday present."

Inuyasha rolled his eyes at that one, although he didn't protest. He would still be a virgin if it weren't for Miroku kicking his ass into gear a few years back. Some people didn't care if your blood was mixed so long as your cash was green. That had been an easy lesson to learn. And everyone knew Club Taboo was regularly frequented by escorts. So long as you weren't stupid enough to discuss the money end of the arrangement in public then the club didn't care. The cops had more important things to do than harass a couple who could easily claim they'd just been about to have a consensual one-night-stand. A lot of the regular clientele made 'charitable donations' to law enforcement, too, and those donations would stop if anyone were ever stupid enough to pull an undercover op. Taboo was safe.

Miroku grinned as Inuyasha silently conceded to their plans for the night. Honestly, Miroku loved his hanyou cousin, even though save for his mother the rest of the family had disowned his aunt Izayoi for having an affair with a married inu-youkai.

Inuyasha's birth had been a horrible scandal for everyone involved, on both sides, destroying Toga Taisho's marriage and alienating the elder Taisho son Sesshoumaru from his father. Toga and Izayoi were truly in love, though, and so tough as nails they'd survived all the ridicule, raising Inuyasha together whenever possible although Toga had always made sure that Izayoi and their son were taken care of financially whenever he couldn't be there. They never married, and Izayoi and Inuyasha had lived alone, but Toga had been, and still was, a steady fixture in their lives.

Despite the way the rich daiyoukai doted on Izayoi, the affair had been too much for nearly all the members of her family to bear. Her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, cousins and older brother and sister had all turned against her, but her baby sister, Miroku's mother, had secretly already known about the affair for quite some time and had not turned her back on her sister after the secret was outed. Izayoi had just _had_ to tell _somebody_ , and for years Miroku's mother had tried to help her sister keep the secret…until she'd gotten pregnant and had decided to tell the rest of her family, knowing they would find out soon enough since she'd had no intention of ending her pregnancy.

Nor had Toga wanted her to. She had not selfishly ruined his marriage while he'd wished to continue keeping things a secret. They both should have been more careful but Toga had looked at it as the kami making the decision for him, when he'd been hesitant to leave his wife.

On Izayoi's side of things, shortly after the birth, her little sister, Miroku's mother, had discovered that she and her husband were expecting a baby as well, which had been a blessing for the rest of the family as they had focused all of their attention on them and had tried their best to pretend that Izayoi no longer existed. But Miroku's mother never severed all ties with her big sister, staying in touch at least over the phone no matter how much everyone else disapproved. Behind her husband's back she'd let Miroku and Inuyasha meet and play together when Miroku had been around five, Inuyasha six, and Izayoi had never been as thankful for her baby sister as she had been in that moment, gifting Inuyasha with his one and only friend in all the world.

Miroku was a very powerful houshi, as were nearly all of the men from his father's side, but nothing and no one had ever been able to tarnish his view of Inuyasha, and growing up the two had remained close, despite his father's protests once he'd eventually found out.

They were adults now, though, Miroku twenty six years old and Inuyasha twenty seven, and so they could do whatever the hell they wanted, screw what the rest of the family thought. Miroku personally felt that the rest of the family, and society itself for that matter, could go blow itself. Inuyasha was family too and that was all there was to it.

Even Sesshoumaru begrudgingly acknowledged the hanyou as his half-brother, since there was no real point in denying the truth of the matter. Sesshoumaru had no love for Inuyasha, but even openly hating him was better than pretending he didn't even exist, as most of their human family tried to do. Mentioning either Izayoi or Inuyasha's names around the dinner table would often cause a wave of silence followed by one of the elder family members grumbling out something like "We do not speak of such things," and then the moment would pass without any further discussion on the matter.

It was because Inuyasha had gotten the short end of the stick in life, at least socially, that Miroku always tried his best to be there for his cousin, and tonight was no exception, the hanyou's birthday having honestly been just a few days prior. He hadn't been kidding about tonight being a belated birthday present, even though he knew that ultimately it would be Inuyasha who picked up the tab. Lonely and ostracized though he might be, Inuyasha was still _very_ well off financially.

Toga Taisho was insanely rich, to put it mildly, and even though the scandal of siring a hanyou son had hurt his image in the public eye a little bit, the fact that he had managed to not crumble afterwards had ultimately earned the daiyoukai more respect among his peers. People had _tried_ to bring him down, and they had _failed_ , so now, over two decades later, Taisho Enterprises was just as successful as ever, if not more so, and even though Inuyasha had no direct ties to his father's multi-billion dollar corporation he was still his father's son, and as such, he could reap at least _some_ of what his father sowed. He was nowhere near as wealthy as Sesshoumaru, of course, but he and his mother were by far the richest members of her human family. She unfortunately couldn't use it to buy their love, because apparently their sense of honor was more important than greed, but screw them anyway. Her baby sister still loved her, even without being paid to.

But even if he and his mother weren't rich, no lower youkai would dare to look down upon Inuyasha for his hanyou status; his youki just _screamed_ of power because of the daiyoukai blood flowing through his veins, and the fact of the matter was that even though he was half human, he was still more powerful than most pureblooded youkai. That put him above them, strictly speaking, and they knew it, since youkai based status on the strength of one's youki above all else.

That being said, it wasn't the youkai world that really interested Inuyasha. Having grown up with Miroku as his only real friend, and Izayoi as his primary caretaker since Toga had never actually lived with them, Inuyasha related much more closely to humans, despite the fact that, generally speaking, it had been humans who'd been the cruelest to him over the years. But even though he couldn't even _buy_ the love he deserved from the rest of his mother's family, Miroku had made it clear that he _wasn't_ being friendly with him for his money, which Inuyasha greatly appreciated. He didn't mind buying himself _some_ forms of companionship, but his life would have been horribly lonely without at least one genuine person in it, besides his mother, who loved him for him.

But even though Miroku would've loved him like a brother even if he were broke, money certainly talked where strangers were concerned, and so as soon as they'd stepped foot in Club Taboo Inuyasha had slapped his black, limitless credit card down on the bar, ordering a bottle of top shelf vodka and a private table for he and Miroku while leaving the tab open for the time being, and the bartender's reply had been an enthusiastic "Yes, sir!"

It was funny how nearly every time Miroku 'took him out' _he_ was the one who ended up paying, but shaking his head in amusement, Inuyasha knew he had no intention of letting his cousin spend a single dime. What the hell else did he need all his money for? Letting Miroku drag him out to different places at least kept his life interesting, and he didn't mind paying because he knew Miroku _wasn't_ just using him as a free ride to have his own fun. The holy man really did have his cousin's back and want what was best for him; he just didn't have the budget Inuyasha did, and so the more extravagant outings had to be on Inuyasha's dime or they simply wouldn't happen. Because Miroku's heart was in the right place, Inuyasha didn't mind paying the tab. He didn't mind it in the slightest.

So now here they were, sitting at a private table in the back of the club, Miroku sipping on his latest pour of vodka. Inuyasha had already polished off over half of the bottle himself; being half youkai it took a lot more alcohol to affect him than it did a full-blooded human, but that was all right because he could easily order another bottle if he ended up drinking more than what Miroku had wanted to share. Or if they managed to find a couple of ladies willing to join them at their table. It was certainly possible in a place like this, he knew.

As Inuyasha glanced around the club he noticed more than one human and youkai couple dancing together; the place was named _Taboo_ for a reason. But dancing together and leaving together were two very different things. No, he would undoubtedly need an escort, he knew, but glancing around the room again, it unfortunately appeared as if the couple of women who screamed _professional_ to him were already chatting with potential Johns.

"Hey, check it out," Miroku said suddenly, interrupting his thoughts, as Miroku directed his attention towards the entrance to the club, and the two breathtakingly striking young ladies who had just entered. "Looks like our young escorts are in need of someone to escort," the houshi added, setting his sights on the taller one dressed in purple.

Inuyasha looked their way, cursing the loud music that prevented him from hearing what the women were saying to each other, although it did appear they were openly scanning the male occupants of the room.

The shorter girl in the red dress' eyes met his for the briefest of moments before she grinned at him and then turned back to say something to her friend, and that just about sealed the deal for him right there because nobody who wasn't thinking about how much money a bottle service table cost would have looked at _him_ that way. If she wasn't a prostitute then she was at least a gold digger, but either way, she'd most likely seen dollar signs in place of the ears on his head when she'd muscled up the willpower to shoot him such an alluring smile.

"Dude, the one in red totally just made eyes at you, which is good because I want the one in purple anyway," Miroku chimed in then.

"Okay okay," Inuyasha conceded, adding, "but I don't want to come off as desperate, so we should probably leave them alone for a _little_ while before approaching."

"Good idea," Miroku agreed. "I'll keep an eye on the competition just to make sure nobody else plans on stealing them away."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"Okay, this was officially not a bad idea," Kagome told Sango as they made their way over to the relatively quiet back corner of the bar.

"What did I tell you?" Sango smirked in triumph as she proceeded to order a Cosmo for her friend and a plain cranberry juice for herself.

"Oh come on, Sango, you gotta drink with me!" Kagome protested lightly.

"I will, a little bit, but I want to pace myself," the martial artist responded.

Huffing playfully, Kagome took a sip of her alcoholic drink all the same, her eyes going back over the room's occupants a second time. There were a lot of handsome men in the club, though a good number of them looked like they were probably already with a date, and the last thing she wanted to do was have some random woman get all up in her face telling her to stay the hell away from _her_ man. Sighing, and taking another sip of her drink, Kagome knew she needed to limit her choices to the men who were more obviously single; the ones who had actually come out looking to hook up, the same as she had.

Weighing her apparent choices, not to mention the various pros and cons of the whole damn situation, Kagome took a third sip of her drink and allowed her eyes to wander back over towards the silver-haired Adonis hiding at the back table with his houshi companion. Kagome could feel the human man's spiritual powers from where she stood, he was that powerful, and the hanyou's demonic aura also screamed of brute strength. His father must have been a very powerful daiyoukai, no doubt about it.

Kagome blushed a little as he caught her looking his way a second time with surprised but also appreciative eyes, the way he looked back clearly telling her that he didn't mind her looking at him in the slightest, and sending him a playful wink despite her embarrassment at getting caught staring, Kagome then turned back around to face the bar before her cheeks burst into flame.

 _Decision made then, I guess_ … She smiled, and took another, larger sip of her drink.

Kagome personally had no problem with the fact that he was a hanyou; he was a total hottie and she thought the whole lingering disdain for mixing the races was archaic and absurd. Still, she supposed with the way the world at large looked at the whole thing she did feel a little sorry for the guy on top of her raw physical attraction. She knew he had to do fairly well for himself for he and his friend to be occupying a bottle service table at a club this nice, which wasn't surprising considering most daiyoukai were fairly wealthy, but money aside, she'd bet he'd had a lonely childhood.

Even so, the way he'd smiled at her told her that he wasn't that much of a recluse in his adult years. It didn't appear to her as if he'd come out with his human buddy merely as a wing-man.

Hell, even if he _was_ the wing-man, that would change, she thought with a wicked little smirk. She would reverse the game on them, and get her wing- _woman_ to keep the houshi entertained so that she and the silver-haired Adonis could get to know each other better.

Truth be told, a naughty little part of her in the back of her mind actually had a bit of a thing for youkai, although she had never in a million years considered _actually_ sleeping with one, before now. Demonic features aside he was still hands down the most attractive man in the room, but she personally thought his youkai traits made him that much more exotic; she found the idea of fangs and claws exciting, and thought his canine (or feline?) ears were cute, rather than repulsive.

Mind made up, she was going to live out one of her forbidden fantasies tonight. She could hardly wait! He was perfect. A pure youkai would be too risky, but with him being a hanyou there was the added bonus of not having to worry about an accidental pregnancy, in addition to no STDs, meaning the condoms she'd brought could stay tucked away in her cocktail purse.

"Okay, I've made eyes at a guy who's made eyes with me back…so now what do I do?" Kagome half laughed, half asked seriously of Sango as she finished her Cosmo and ordered another one, refusing to let Sango pay again as she handed the bartender her own credit card to keep on file for the rest of the night.

"Which one?" Sango asked with eager excitement as she ordered on her own tab her first alcoholic drink of the evening.

Kagome pointed out the men to her, and this time the houshi also made googly eyes in their direction, more specifically at the martial artist dressed in spaghetti strapped purple. Smiling demurely, Sango then quickly turned back around so that they would not see her real reaction as she bit her lower lip to keep from laughing. Meeting a man _herself_ hadn't really been a part of the plan, but what the hell? She was willing if he was!

"Let me guess, you're interested in the hanyou," she stated to Kagome rather than asked, no trace of hostility or repulsion in her voice with the way she'd said it, her tone casual as if she'd said 'the blond' or 'the redhead' or something else equally harmless.

"Yup," Kagome acknowledged without a speck of hesitation or shame. In fact, she almost seemed proud of herself for the declaration.

Sango merely nodded; she knew her friend and client thought it was immature of the rest of the world to still be holding on to so much hate in this day and age, and for no real reason at all. Humans and youkai could work together, live next door to one another, and could even be best friends, but if two of them actually fell in love and had a baby, watch out.

At least the miko wouldn't have to worry about an accidental pregnancy as she would were she planning on going to bed with a true youkai. Condoms could break, especially with the workout a youkai could give one, and true there was the morning after pill, but demonic sperm had a reputation for being rather…persistent.

That was one of the reasons why human/youkai couples were so looked down upon, even if it was just for fun and they had no intention of becoming parents. Plans could change; at least when the human was the woman. It was slightly more acceptable for a human man to have female youkai 'companions' because when the union went that way around the odds of an accidental pregnancy were slim to none. There were demonic methods of birth control that human females could not take without it killing them that most youkai females who played with human men used on a regular basis. As a result, nearly all hanyou were born to human mothers, and well over two thirds were unplanned accidents that had shamed both their human and youkai families with their birth.

If the child were _truly_ unwanted, by the parents, it would just be aborted, but most of the time, if the couple was genuinely in love and hadn't just been fooling around sexually for fun, then they just didn't have the heart to terminate the pregnancy, the human mother deciding to keep her baby, consequences be damned. But it was always the child that paid the biggest price, socially. As if it were really _their_ fault they'd been born.

Personally, Sango thought Kagome was right, it wasn't fair, although that _was_ the way the world _was_ and so if this were going to be anything more than just a one-night-stand she would probably advise her friend to fully consider the consequences before perusing such a relationship. _She_ would support Kagome 100%, but that didn't mean the miko's father would, and she would just hate for her friend to have to choose between family and love. But Mr. Higurashi shouldn't find out about tonight, because this club had a reputation of its own to uphold, which was pretty much 'What happens at Taboo stays at Taboo' and so she would encourage Kagome to follow her heart, and least for tonight.


	3. An Honest Mistake

Chapter 3 – An Honest Mistake

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"He's quite the catch," Sango said, as she glanced back at the table once again. She couldn't deny that the hanyou _was_ awfully attractive, as she nodding friendlily in his direction before shooting the houshi a much more appreciative look, letting the holy man know that _he_ was her personal favorite.

This night wasn't really about her, though, and so Sango quickly turned back around again, not wanting to appear too desperate. There was nothing wrong with a little harmless 'wink and smile' flirting from across the room, but if it was going to become anything more than that then in her opinion the guys needed to be the ones to make the next move.

That next move came when Kagome finished her second Cosmo, and before she could even order her third it was already placed in front of her. At first she just thought the bartender was being proactive, but then he said, "Compliments of the white-haired gentleman at the back table."

Eyes opening wide in surprise, Kagome shared a quick moment of excited giggles with Sango before turning back around again, holding up her drink in a show of thanks while shooting the hanyou a heart-stopping smile before then taking a sip, her eyes sparkling as she continued to hold his gaze for a moment longer before finally turning back around again. It was a good thing she had a somewhat high tolerance for alcohol; she could definitely admit that she was getting a little tipsy by that point, perhaps even a tad more than tipsy, but she was certainly nowhere near falling down drunk, nor did she have any intention of getting that far gone. She did want to _remember_ tonight come tomorrow morning, after all.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

"You sly dog you," Miroku complemented, causing Inuyasha to chuckle at his cousin's choice of words.

"So far so good," the hanyou agreed, flagging down the same cocktail waitress to have her inform the bartender that the other girl's next drink was on him as well, though to inform the lady in purple that it was actually courtesy of Miroku and not himself.

"Right away, sir," the human server agreed with a smile that grew even larger after Inuyasha thanked her with a crooked grin and handed her a twenty for her troubles.

"It's no trouble at all, sir," she stated merrily as she hurried over to give the bartender his instructions, out of earshot of the two ladies in question, of course.

He was happy to oblige as well, knowing his own tip would be quite favorable once the hanyou cashed out his tab. Some people might secretly begrudge having to offer service to a youkai or hanyou in a primarily human establishment, but Jason didn't mind it one bit. Because it _was_ a primarily human establishment, located deep in the heart of the human side of town, he had learned from personal experience over the years that whatever few pure youkai or hanyou they ever got were almost always _huge_ tippers, probably in the hopes of it earning them more decent service, or more accurately in thanks for them having received decent service to begin with. He knew enough to not bite the hand that fed him. As a result, he had a few regulars, and he wouldn't object to this hanyou becoming another one.

Inuyasha and Miroku observed, each of them inwardly grinning in victory while outwardly grinning in a more 'innocent' manner, as after a few more minutes passed the taller lady in purple also turned their way and raised her new drink in a show of thanks, her own grin perhaps not quite so innocent, which was a _good_ thing.

Turning to say something to her friend in red that Inuyasha could not hear – he once again cursed the loud club music – both his and Miroku's eyes widened in surprise to see, after a brief conversation between the two women, the lady in purple confidently making her way over to their table.

 _Only her?_

Inuyasha tried not to let his disappointment show, happy for Miroku but bummed out all the same. Getting turned down by _that_ kind of woman stung even more than a regular woman rejecting him.

He quickly learned that he'd been too fast to jump to such a harsh conclusion, though, when as soon as Sango approached their table, she said, "Thank you for the drink," to Miroku. Glancing Inuyasha's way with a wink, she then gave the monk her complete attention as she added, "My name is Sango, by the way, and I would really love to join you over here at this lovely table, but I'm afraid I have a bit of a problem. You see, that'll leave my friend, Kagome, all alone over there all by herself. Unless you…" she said, glancing slyly at Inuyasha again, "…wouldn't mind keeping her company for the rest of the evening?"

He might genuinely have a thicker than average skull, being half canine and all, but _nobody_ was _that_ thickheaded.

"It would be my pleasure," he replied with a smirk that revealed his fangs.

While Sango wasn't personally into youkai and found his fangs a little more than she herself would be able to handle, she shot him a sultry smirk of her own all the same, knowing Kagome would probably _love_ the feel of them trailing all over her body. She wasn't bothered by her friend's not-so-secret (between the two of them) fantasies; different strokes for different folks.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Kagome counted to ten, ordering the butterflies in her stomach to vacate post haste as she took another sip of her drink, the drink _he_ had bought for her. She wasn't really nervous though, more like…anxious.

Or perhaps excited was the right word. She couldn't believe Sango's bravado!

As soon as the bartender had informed her that the other man, the dark-haired gentleman occupying the same table, had bought that drink for _her,_ Sango had suddenly become a woman on a mission. Kagome was still getting laid tonight, but now, so was she.

Sango had originally tried to get Kagome to come with her over to their table. That was the thing that women did at these types of clubs, they went and hung out at the tables of the rich men who would shower them with free drinks in the hopes of getting lucky. But Kagome had never done such a thing before, and so she hadn't wanted to leave the safety of her comfort zone just yet.

But you couldn't learn to swim unless you got in the water and so Sango had simply said, "Fine, stay here at the bar then, I have a new idea," before sashaying away.

It had taken the miko less than a second to realize Sango's intentions, and she'd spun back around on her heels to face the bar with wide eyes, more surprised by the martial artist's gusto than nervous over meeting her 'date' for the evening. Sure, they were moving a little faster than she would've liked, but ultimately Kagome decided to stop worrying about it and do as her friend had instructed: have a good time.

Keeping her eyes averted, not wanting to appear _too_ desperate, or eager, as she feared watching him approach her would make her look, Kagome attempted to keep her cool as she felt a demonic presence slide up beside her. She was the one in control here; _she_ was the one with the power. She closed her eyes and smiled slowly to herself. She could do this.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Inuyasha was surprised to feel Kagome's miko aura as he approached, Miroku's own spiritual powers having inadvertently masked his ability to sense hers when she and Sango had first entered the club, although he was not hesitant in the slightest to approach her all the same. Not if she was actually willing to give _him_ a chance.

True, she was in it for the money, a little voice in the back of his head reminded him so that he wouldn't get his hopes too high at the way she would undoubtedly smile at him and say all the right things, but still, if she was willing to look past his demonic attributes then who was he to complain? Besides, to be perfectly honest, a part of him actually liked the idea of her being a miko; that put them on an even playing field, more or less. At least it meant she actually had the right to hold her head as high as she was; she really _was_ all powerful and the one in control here. She called the shots, because if he got out of line she could just zap him one. A woman like her, she probably had a list of clients that would put Miroku's reputation to shame.

Sure, she was young, but she was also professional and sophisticated. Her aura literally _screamed_ it to somebody like him who could sense such things. It was honestly a bit of a wonder that she was actually willing to give him the time of day. None of his past 'dates' had ever been as high ranking as a miko, but maybe she was just feeling adventurous? She certainly didn't _need_ the money, her diamonds alone were proof enough of that, and even if she'd somehow fallen on hard times within her…line of work…surely there were other options available to her if money was _all_ that it was.

Allowing himself to believe, then, that she had to be at least a little bit attracted to him, as he'd convinced himself the few other professional women he'd bedded over the years had been – they at least hadn't been repulsed by him – he closed the distance between them with a smirk of confidence firmly in place, ordering himself a drink.

"My name's Inuyasha," he stated casually after a moment, offering her a sly grin that she mirrored.

 _Ah, canine it is, then_...

"Kagome."

"I know," he stated confidently, and the miko assumed correctly that Sango must have told him her name already.

Giving Inuyasha a quick once over, Kagome got a good look at the man for the first time that night, since sitting over in the back corner as he'd been hadn't allowed her to see very much of him from the chest down.

He was physically fit, no doubt about it, his high-end metallic dark gray denim pants fitting snugly and not leaving much to the imagination. His tight fitting white button-up long sleeve shirt that he wore untucked accented not only his incredible upper body, but also highlighted the fact that his shimmering waist length hair, while definitely white and not silver, still had a bizarre pearlescent sheen to it that made his glistening locks stand out against the white fabric of his shirt instead of blend in. The first two buttons on his shirt were undone, revealing a teasing amount of hairless chest, while designer leather sneakers completed the look.

Kagome gave him an approving smile, blatantly letting him know with her eyes that she liked what she saw, before shooting a casual glance behind the two of them back towards the bottle service table where Sango was now laughing with the raven-haired houshi.

"It appears that Sango has taken a liking to your friend," she stated after a moment, trying to think of something to say before the growing silence could make her nervous again. She wasn't really apprehensive about what was to come; she was more nervous about screwing it up somehow than anything else. Confident or not, she'd still never done this sort of thing before.

"So it appears," Inuyasha agreed easily enough, before adding, "although I'm more interested in you."

She offered him a smirk, then. "What a coincidence," she stated demurely before taking another sip of her drink.

He chuckled, and took another swig of his own. He hadn't missed the way she'd checked him out, nor the approving glint in her eyes that told him she liked what she saw. Confidence boosted, he decided to plow forward, no longer apprehensive over the possibility that she didn't really want to do this and was just doing what she had to do to survive.

"So what brings you out tonight?" he asked with an air of nonchalance, as if he didn't honestly know.

Kagome met his golden honey eyes at his question, and without missing a beat she replied with sexy confidence, "I'm looking for a date."

There, that was brazen and straight to the point, she thought, looking away to take another sip of her drink before she got completely lost in his gorgeous eyes. The next move was his, she told herself, which made her smile when he made it without delay, responding to her statement with a hauntingly familiar, "What a coincidence," before taking another sip of his own drink.

It was her turn to chuckle, and then quickly deciding to take things a _little_ slowly, she asked, "So tell me about yourself, Inuyasha."

He could hardly fault her for wanting to do a job interview of sorts, and so he gave her a brief but accurate rundown of his life story, including the fact that Miroku was actually his cousin, and the only member of his human family he was 'close' to, as a polite way of saying the rest of them hated him. He then explained that he was a trust fund baby from his father's side, as the saying went, since he'd never worked a day in his life, nor would he ever need to. He didn't have to elaborate much on that point because he was sure Kagome could fill in the blanks, but he emphasized the fact that his father was _very_ wealthy and so unlike some other trust fund brats out there, his income would never run out no matter how irresponsible he was with his money.

"Congratulations," Kagome stated for lack of anything better to say, a large part of her truly happy for him because she'd heard how hard it could be for the less fortunate hanyou of the world to find work and sustain themselves.

"My family's well off, too, although from the sound of things you and your father have us beat," she said with a chuckle that let him know she wasn't envious. "I don't _have_ to work for a living, but I just don't feel right mooching off of my parents forever, plus I want to actually do my part to do a bit of good in this world, you know?"

He almost choked on his drink, thinking she was referring to what he _thought_ was her line of work, but then before he could put his foot in his mouth, make a joke worthy of Miroku along the lines of her doing all _sorts_ of 'good' in this world, she elaborated.

"So I still live at home, for now, and they're putting me through medical school, but I consider it a _loan_ even though I'm not actually racking up student debt. I'm just glad there was a good school close enough to home so that I didn't have to worry about renting an apartment. That way I don't have to juggle having a job to pay my rent, or feel guilty about my parents paying it for me since they're already paying enough, and I can focus fully on my studies. I want to be a doctor and eventually open my own practice. A pediatrician, because I love children, or at least other people's children," she said with a laugh. "I don't want any kids of my own for a while yet, though, so I can focus on my career first," she added as an afterthought. She normally wasn't so talkative with people she'd just met, but the cocktails were definitely helping in that regard.

Inuyasha, meanwhile, had his eyes open wide at this unexpected information. Was she _not_ an escort, then? She couldn't even be working her way through medical school since she'd said her parents were paying her way for her. Had he just made a terrible mistake? But wait, no...she _had_ been checking him out, and they'd been successfully flirting with one another. But if she _wasn't..._ what he'd thought she was...then did that mean she was actually interested in him _only_ because she was attracted to him, with no ulterior motives?

Such a thing had never seemed possible!

Of course, Kagome immediately noticed his shell-shocked expression. It definitely wasn't the disapproving look Hojo had always given her at mention of her goal of becoming a doctor, but the idea that he was so _surprised_ still felt somewhat insulting.

"What? Didn't think a pretty little thing like me was smart enough for medical school, or was it my remark about not wanting kids for a while?" she asked him quietly, not wanting to cause a scene and knowing he'd hear her. She never would've snapped at him like that if it weren't for the alcohol. After just breaking up with Hojo, the _last_ thing she needed was somebody else thinking her place was at home, barefoot and pregnant.

Instantly realizing he'd already fucked up, Inuyasha glanced back at his table to see Miroku and Sango apparently having a fabulous time, and with his ears lowering back down on his head, though this time it had nothing to do with the club music, he figured the best chance he had of getting out of this was just to be honest. Even if she threw the rest of her drink in his face and stormed out, he didn't want to lie to her, and he couldn't think up an excuse fast enough, anyway. She was already glaring at him.

"No! That's not it at all!" he said first and foremost. Double checking to make sure nobody was paying them any attention, and thankfully nobody was, Jason currently talking with someone else at the other end of the bar, he swallowed and leaned in a bit to murmur in her ear.

"Please don't be mad," he started, "but well, I just thought you...I thought you were already _working_ for a living, if you know what I mean. Nobody else would want to be with a hanyou like me, or at least, nobody else ever has."

It was Kagome's turn for her eyes to widen at his quiet confession. While her first instinct was to be insulted again, she nipped that feeling in the bud before it fully had a chance bloom. Hadn't she, herself, thought that she looked like a call girl? She could hardly blame him for the misunderstanding when she thought back to how brazenly she'd been flirting with him from across the room, and after he'd first joined her at the bar. It was an honest mistake. No harm done, right?

Then the second part of what he'd said registered. The reason it hadn't even occurred to him to tread lightly, that she _might not_ be an escort and he'd better double check somehow, was because, in his experience, those were the _only_ women he could attract.

Her eyes softened then.

"Oh, Inuyasha..."

Reaching forward, she cupped his right hand in both of hers, showing no fear of his claws, and looked him right in the eyes, really studying him. Intentionally or not, he bared his soul for her in that moment. In his eyes she could see all of his secret insecurities, his loneliness, and his fear that after finding the _one woman_ who wasn't interested in him for his money, he'd blown it.

"Thank you for being honest, so now I will be honest with you, too. I'm _not_ looking for a relationship right now," she told him, and his ears, which had sprung back up as she'd started talking, immediately lowered again, but she plowed forward. "I just had a bad breakup, guy was a real jerk, and Sango dragged me out for, well for a one-night-stand, to be blunt. But that must've been what you'd thought this was going to be all along, so now you just know it's free. If you still want to, I do too, because I _am_ attracted to you, and I _do_ have a room in this hotel."

Releasing his hands, she winked as she said that last part, and then downed the last of her third Cosmo. Glancing back over at the table herself, then, she added, "Besides, it looks like our friends have officially ditched us for the rest of the night, so if you _don't_ come up to my room with me we're both going to be very lonely."

With much of his bravado gone now, Inuyasha felt more humbled awe than the cocky confidence he'd been trying to portray as he replied with, "I...I would love to."

She was right, after all. When he'd thought she was an escort he'd obviously known it was only going to be for the one night, so there was no point in getting his feelings hurt about that part now. They were two mature adults agreeing to have a one-night-stand together, and there was nothing wrong with that. The fact that he'd actually managed to find a woman who _wanted_ to?

 _Happy birthday, indeed,_ he thought to himself, before downing the last of his own drink and adding, "Let's get out of here."


	4. Hers

Chapter 4 – Hers

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It didn't take them long to flag down Jason and close out their respective tabs. Fortunately, Inuyasha knew that Miroku had his 'emergency' credit card on him, a card Inuyasha had given him that the monk never ran up on frivolous things, but instead kept it open and available for situations such as this one, whenever the holy man suddenly needed to keep up the appearance of being worth more than he was in his cousin's absence.

Just because Inuyasha realized now that Sango obviously wasn't an escort, either – surely Kagome would've said something – that didn't mean that Miroku didn't still need to be able to shower the girl with money, if the houshi _wanted_ to. He momentarily thought about warning the man, but one glance in their direction screamed _Do Not Disturb_ , so it wasn't exactly like he had an opening to just walk up there and tell him.

Deciding to warn him by text, then, and hope for the best, he followed Kagome's example of just waving goodbye from across the room before they headed out of the club. Miroku and Sango both saw and waved back, Miroku also adding a thumbs up after Kagome turned around, but for Inuyasha's part he tried to emphasize the fact that he was waving with his phone in his hand, having taken it out of his pocket. Rolling his eyes at the thumbs up, he could only hope the houshi had gotten his message, that when he received a _text_ message in just a minute, he should _read_ it.

Following after Kagome to the elevators, then, he composed said message.

" _Watch what you say. They are not pros!"_

He could only hope the monk read it before he opened his big mouth.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Sango, having caught Miroku's thumbs up, only laughed. She had helped herself to the leftover vodka at their table and so she was not quite as sober as she'd originally intended on staying for the night. Whoopsie! Although it wasn't as if she was driving anywhere until tomorrow morning, anyway, so fuck it. Or better yet, fuck Miroku.

Riding up the elevator with Kagome and Inuyasha could be awkward for the miko, though, Sango thought soon after, so even though she was also ready to go she quickly decided to go ahead and give those two a bit of a head start; she was perfectly capable of hanging out with Miroku down in the club for a little while longer...provided she stayed away from any more vodka.

"You wanna dance?" she asked Miroku then, grabbing his left hand that was draped over her left shoulder with her right hand and giving it a little tug as she ducked her head and moved his arm out from behind her neck.

A little surprised, though not unpleasantly so, Miroku smiled and said "Sure," before standing up and leading her over to the dance floor. He felt his phone vibrate in his pocket and realized it was probably Inuyasha, but he'd check it in a minute. Whatever it was couldn't be _too_ important if the hanyou had gone ahead and left with Kagome for the night, so it was probably just instructions about when and where to meet up with him the next day.

 _Well, this is new,_ Miroku thought as he and Sango started dancing, in regard to his past experiences with such women. Usually they were all about getting down to business, and didn't get quite so tipsy, although he figured it was probably the alcohol that had allowed Sango to go off script for the evening. Even working girls deserved to have a good time, right?

Plus he had a good buzz going himself, so hey, whatever she wanted to do, he was all for it so long as it involved that sexy body of hers. Considering she was currently rubbing said body up and down over his own in the middle of the dance floor, he had no complaints.

One song blended into the next, and then another and another, and while at first he'd been content to dance with her, after a while her little public display of foreplay really started getting him all fired up. If they didn't get out of there soon he'd fuck her right there on the dance floor.

Finally grabbing Sango's hand and dragging her away from the crowded and noisy dance floor, they made their way back over to the slightly quieter back corner where his private table was located, so that he wouldn't have to shout over the music.

"You got some place for us to go?" he asked her. "I don't have a room here for the night but I can go get one if you don't either," he said, mentally thanking his cousin for his emergency 'in case of hanyou departure' credit card.

It was a little odd that one of her first questions when she'd joined him at the table hadn't been whether or not he was staying there at the hotel, which led him to believe that she probably had her own room. This hotel, this club, was probably her and Kagome's regular hunting ground.

Sango was slightly taken aback by his boldness, though only for a split second, as she then immediately smiled again and wrapped her arms up and around his neck to plant her lips squarely over his own.

Miroku's eyebrows rose for a moment, but then he quickly closed his eyes, savoring the kiss for the time being. Finally pulling apart for air, Sango offered him a playful smirk and assured him that she did in fact already have her own room for the night, for just such an occasion, she added with a teasing wink. Silently to herself, she thought that she could hardly blame the man for being so presumptuous; she had known from the start that they were going to be spending the night together, too.

"Well then, shall we?" Miroku asked with a wink of his own, offering her his arm.

"We shall."

Giggling, Sango accepted the proffered limb, hooking her own arm with his. They made a quick stop at the bar because she still had a tab to cash out – Sango failed to notice in her tipsy state that Miroku did _not_ have a tab to cash out, since the drink he had supposedly bought her had actually been on Inuyasha's bill – and then they were exiting the club, working their way through the lingering crowd outside and past the exit most club patrons were using to instead head deeper into the heart the hotel, past registration and towards the corridor that led to the room elevators.

"So…I hate to dampen the mood, but it is not in my style to order at a restaurant without first glancing over the prices on the menu. I'm sure you can appreciate that," Miroku murmured quietly as they walked through the mostly deserted hallway, a single hotel employee buffing a roped off section of the marble floor nodding their way as they passed though he could not hear what Miroku had said over the thrum of his machine.

Furrowing her brow in confusion, Sango paused for a moment in front of the elevators, not yet pushing the button.

"Huh?"

He paused at her tone, worrying that he had offended her with his phrasing. After all, only a lowly streetwalker actually charged individual prices for various acts in an à la carte type of manner. A high-class escort typically charged a single and higher rate for their 'company' and then whatever various acts did or did not occur did not change the price, unless a client wanted something particularly out of the ordinary. He'd used a rather horrible analogy, the longer he thought about it. Though it wasn't as if he was completely sober at the moment, so hopefully she could forgive him.

"I meant no disrespect. I am certain a lovely woman of your caliber places no limitations on her services. Whatever the rate for our night together, I can assure you it will not be an issue."

Sango's eyes widened then as understanding dawned.

"You…you think I'm a _prostitute?"_ she hissed, not in anger necessarily. She was more just trying to keep her voice down for fear of being overheard. She was really more surprised than anything else.

Miroku's instant look of pure panic was far too priceless, and despite herself Sango immediately busted up laughing, whatever ire she _had_ felt quickly fading away as she admitted to herself that she could understand how everything could've looked from his point of view.

After a moment the martial artist was laughing more at herself than at her date's hilarious _'oh shit!'_ expression. The kind of laughing at oneself that somebody who fell down in public might do as others laughed at their expense, joining in with the amusement of the crowd around them because they too could appreciate the humor of the situation despite their embarrassment. And Sango was embarrassed. Good God, the man had thought she was a hooker! That didn't mean she was about to storm away from him in righteous indignation, though. The fact that she was fairly drunk at the moment probably had something to do with it. That, and the fact that the monk was downright gorgeous.

"Houshi, I would slap you silly if I wasn't so damn horny and you weren't so damn fuckable, so you're _really_ lucky I'm still hot for you after a slip up _that_ big," she stated with a lingering chuckle in her voice.

Miroku immediately sagged in relief, before his eyes suddenly took on a brand new look of panic, which confused Sango at first.

"What…?" she started to ask, though her own eyes quickly widen as understanding dawned, even before he asked her in turn, "So I take it your friend Kagome is not a professional escort either?"

"Oh shit…" Sango breathed out in a whisper, sobering up for a split second before suddenly snorting out another round of laughter. She'd definitely ended up getting more drunk than she'd originally intended.

"Kagome's probably gonna be pissed!" Sango added between giggles, clearheaded enough to know her miko friend didn't have as much of a sense of humor as she did, although she was just drunk enough to have an 'oh well, fuck it' attitude about the whole thing, finding it much more hilarious than worrisome at the present moment.

"Excuse me for a second," Miroku stated politely then, shaking his head as he chuckled a bit as well despite himself while pulling out his cell phone. "I will gladly take you up on your offer, Sango..." he added then with a smile that was both apologetically sheepish for the misunderstanding as well as grateful for her forgiveness, "...but I have some major damage control to do, first. I hope it's not too late."

But as he prepared to send Inuyasha a text, he finally noticed the text message the hanyou had sent _him_.

 _Ah, crisis averted, apparently_.

He sighed in relief.

He wasn't sure how the hanyou had found out, how the conversation between himself and Kagome had gone down, or if there hadn't been a conversation on the subject at all and he'd just reached that conclusion on his own based on their more _innocent_ conversation, but either way, he knew that text had come in almost immediately after he and Kagome had left, meaning the hanyou was _not_ going to have a foot-in-mouth moment similar to his own.

"Well all right then, after you," Miroku said to Sango then, gesturing to the elevator as he put his phone back away.

Sango eagerly pushed the UP button.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The beeping of an electronic door lock followed by the turning of a latch preceded the door being swung open into the darkened hotel room. Entering only enough to flip on the light in the entryway, Kagome held the door open against the inside wall and said "After you…" with a seductive grin aimed back at her date standing out in the hallway.

Smiling back at her, still a bit in awe that this was actually happening, that he was actually with a _regular_ woman who just _wanted_ to be with him for the night for no other reason than she had wanted to be with somebody and had chosen _him,_ Inuyasha stepped over the threshold and headed deeper into the one-room suite, the single king-size bed beckoning him alluringly from its place against the left wall.

Shutting the door after placing the do-not-disturb hanger on the outside knob, Kagome both turned the deadbolt into the locked position and flipped the metal swing guard over the catch. Setting both her cocktail purse and key card down on the small entryway table, she then turned and sauntered over towards the bed, where Inuyasha had laid himself out to wait for her, lying on his right side with his head towards the headboard as he faced her with what he hoped was a confident smirk that revealed a fang, his right arm bent at the elbow with his head propped up on his right hand, his left arm resting casually along his left side.

Kagome was momentarily torn between giggling at the silly sight he made with his 'I'm ready whenever you are' expression, and running up to him and jumping onto the bed so that she could start ripping his clothes off. She settled for approaching him slowly but confidently and with purpose, stopping once she reached the edge of the bed to pose with her hands on her hips, a single eyebrow raised as if to question his audacity.

Inuyasha met her silent challenge with a look of his own, clearly daring her to make the next move, and she quickly decided that she might as well. After all, they both knew what they had come back to her hotel room to do. Inviting him to join her for a one-night-stand had clearly indicated that she wanted him naked and in her bed, so now here he was, already in her bed; step one accomplished. Now she just had to remove all of those pesky clothes of his, and hers as well. But if he thought she was going to do _all_ of the work herself he had another think coming.

Smirking then, Kagome decided to give him the show he was so obviously waiting to see, as she removed her hands from her hips to reach behind herself, slowly pulling down the back zipper on her dress. The lighting was low, the only light on in the room being the one over in the entryway, but she had enough light to see by and knew that her date with his demonic eyes had _more_ than enough light to see by. The look in said demonic eyes quickly shifted from amusement to anticipation at her move, and Kagome's smile grew as she caught the look of hunger that flashed in his gaze as well as she finished unfastening her zipper and began gently tugging on the sides of her dress, slowly pushing the wide collar down her shoulders and arms as the entire garment slipped down her body until suddenly dropping to the carpeted floor. He licked his lips then, the look in his eyes suddenly becoming predatory, and she had to fight the stupid grin that wanted to return to her face. Hojo had certainly never looked at her _that_ way; Inuyasha definitely knew how to make a girl feel sexy.

For his part, Inuyasha had thought to head over to the bed while Kagome fiddled with locking the door just for shits and giggles, wanting to see what her reaction would be upon turning around to find him stretched out on the bed with a 'come hither' look in his eyes. They both knew what they were doing in her room, the only misunderstanding having been his presumption that this was what she did for a living. That she was an ordinary girl – well okay, she was hardly ordinary, being an extremely powerful miko who also just happened to be studying to become a doctor – but that she was _not_ an _escort_ , and she had chosen _him_ for her night of adult fun, apparently for the purpose of getting a bad breakup out of her head...he had quickly decided to make it his mission that she forgot _all_ about whatever asshat had so stupidly decided to break her heart.

Plus he really, really wanted to have sex with her.

As he watched that crimson fabric brush sensually down her sun-kissed skin as her dress fell to the floor in a whoosh, he suddenly found himself envious of the undergarments she wore. _They_ were getting to touch her perfect, well-toned body when he had not yet had such a privilege. His body would be taking her clothing's place soon enough, though.

Kagome shivered, in a good way, as his heated gaze followed her every move. There was no overly sexy way to remove her shoes but she tried her best, quickly stepping out of her dress before then bending down at the waist while keeping her legs perfectly straight, simply to demonstrate how flexible she was and that she _could_ bend forward to touch her toes without bending her legs. Unbuckling the ankle strap of one shoe, she stepped out of it and then moved to the other, her flat stomach remaining alluring in the position with her breasts hanging heavily, revealing they were au naturel as they teasingly threatened to let a nipple pop out of her lacy black strapless bra.

Inuyasha's mouth watered as his eyes glued themselves to her cleavage as she bent over to remove her shoes. Check that; you couldn't rightfully call something that was over fifty percent breasts 'cleavage'. But as much as he was mentally cheering for a nip-slip, Kagome stood back up straight after setting her dress and shoes aside with both breasts still perfectly concealed, or at least as concealed as see-through black lace would allow. The pattern of the floral lace strategically hid her nipples from view, but he could still see plenty of pale flesh showing through the mesh, which was clearly not an illusion liner, and he felt himself harden even more than he already was at the sight. Her bikini cut panties were the same way; hitting just below her naval, the see-through black lace revealed an ample view of flesh tone underneath. It only took him a second to realize there was no sudden patch of solid black further down.

 _Hot damn!_

Feeling confident rather than exposed at the way his eyes brazenly scanned her body up and down, Kagome smirked before commenting offhandedly, "You're over dressed."

Inuyasha didn't need to be told twice, as he quickly sat up on the edge of the bed and started unbuttoning his shirt, a soft chuckle escaping Kagome's lips at his eagerness as the miko slowly reached behind herself and unclasped her bra, rendering herself topless around the same time as Inuyasha, who quickly flung his shirt away from himself and toward the general direction of where she'd previously sat her dress and shoes.

He then immediately reached for and untied his own shoes one by one, letting them drop beside the bed where he sat as he next pulled off his socks, letting those fall as well. When his fingers next reached for the button on his designer jeans, that was when Kagome spoke back up again, a spark of amusement still twinkling in her blue-gray eyes over his gusto.

"Here, allow me..." the panty-clad miko cooed seductively, encouraging Inuyasha to lie down on his back sideways across the bed with a gentle push from her right hand in the center of his chest, his legs bent at the knees and hanging over the side.

He breathed in deeply through his nose in an attempt to calm himself and let her control the situation as he felt her fingers reach for and unhook the button of his jeans before next tugging down the zipper, his state of arousal not going unnoticed by her, he was sure.

In fact, Kagome did feel it, the hard bulge impossible to miss as her fingers brushed against it, and it made things a little more real for the miko, although not in a bad way. Her nervousness and anxiety were both completely gone by that point, the alcohol in her system doing its job. She was drunk, but not _too_ drunk to know what she was doing, and scoring a one-night-stand had been the goal from the very beginning, a decision she'd made while quite sober. Now, her inhibitions were out the proverbial window, but she was still coherent enough to function and would undoubtedly remember everything in the morning; the perfect blend.

Giving his unfastened jeans a firm yank, Inuyasha immediately complied with her silent command, lifting his hips enough for her to slide the metallic gray denim down his legs to discard in the same general direction as the rest of their clothing. Honestly, her aggression and eagerness was only fueling his own arousal all the more, something made quite evident by the way his manhood was struggling to break free from his skin tight boxer briefs. The snug black nylon/spandex blend left nothing to the imagination, and he let out a low moan of appreciation as Kagome immediately reached for and cupped him through the fabric.

 _Damn, she's a bold one, not that I'm complaining_... he thought, still trying to hide his bewilderment.

Even though the other women he'd been with in the past had been good actresses, or greedy enough, that they had either been able to pretend his youkai heritage didn't bother them or it really hadn't, but only because of the size of his pocket book, Kagome was the first to so quickly and eagerly 'take matters into her own hands' as it were.

Closing his eyes and hissing in pleasure as she palmed him through his underwear, Inuyasha couldn't believe such a simple touch was having such a profound effect on him. Or maybe it was the fact that she'd done so without him having asked her to. While a part of him wanted her to hurry it along, another part of him was quite content to just lie there and enjoy whatever she wanted to do to him.

If he hadn't fully believed her before, that she was honestly attracted to him, he did now.

After all, he knew that _she_ knew that he could neither get her pregnant nor infect her with a human STD, and so even as a regular woman choosing to have a one-night-stand, it made sense, in a way, to pick the hanyou. But of course, that logic was still dependent on the woman being able to stomach the idea of sleeping with one, and he quickly decided that even _if_ those 'added bonuses' had crossed her mind, she still _liked_ him and did _want_ to be with him, because this night _wasn't_ about money and instead was just about her having fun.

And he would make sure he made it a night she would never forget. She did have a no good ex-boyfriend he had to put out of her mind, after all, and the best way to do that, he decided, was to let her have her way with him. He would be hers to command.

Hell, if she asked it of him, he would just plain be _hers_ , and a tiny part of his heart ached at the knowledge that she wasn't in the market for a long-term relationship. He knew he didn't really _know_ her, but he also knew he could fall in love with her if he wasn't careful. It was a risk he was willing to take.


	5. The Best Night

Chapter 5 – The Best Night

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Continuing to massage Inuyasha through his underwear, Kagome was thoroughly enjoying all the little noises and faces he was making. Sometimes he moaned like a man, and sometimes it sounded distinctly more like a canine whimper. She would be content to just play with him all night long if it weren't for the aching need she felt between her own legs.

Deciding to move things along, then, she tugged gently on the ends of his underwear, pulling them down until his manhood sprang free. The same as he'd done when she'd removed his pants, he raised his hips to aid her in removing his final covering, pulling his boxer briefs down his legs to discard near his jeans. She moved her hands to remove her own panties, then, and upon realizing what she was about to do, Inuyasha snapped his eyes back open and made sure he watched her every move as she slid the lacy fabric down her legs.

His nostrils flared, taking in a good long whiff of her obvious arousal, and a deep rumbling growl of satisfaction vibrated in his chest. Kagome heard the animalistic sound, and she giggled. His ears lowered to his head at the sound of her quiet laughter, wondering forlornly for the briefest of moments why she was laughing at him, but then suddenly her hand was on his chest, pushing him to lie back flatly across the bed again. As she came up between his legs, wrapping her right hand around him, Inuyasha's thoughts immediately fled his brain, the only thing he could focus on suddenly being the feel of her hand as she worked him.

Then suddenly he was enveloped in searing, wet heat. Propping himself up on his elbows, he stared, transfixed. The only fleeting thought that managed to wiggle its way to the surface of his mind was that whoever the hell her ex-boyfriend was, he was a fucking idiot for having lost someone as wonderful as this woman.

For the miko, it was actually the animalistic sounds of pleasure and desperation escaping his throat that fueled her passion. While she'd done this for Hojo a few select times, she would be lying if she said she'd truly enjoyed herself at those times, and as soon as his true colors had started to come out she'd promptly stopped any and all such activities. If he wanted her to be his 'little woman' then actually submitting to that notion in such a sexual way was the last thing she'd wanted to do, when she'd been trying to assert her own status and independence.

When it came to the hanyou writhing before her, however, Kagome didn't feel subservient in the slightest. _She_ was dominating _him_ , and it was clear to her that he was loving every minute of it, which meant, so was she. She had the power, and all those little whipped puppy sounds were too damn sexy for words.

Leaning on his left elbow, Inuyasha reached for the back of Kagome's head with his right hand, delicately fisting her hair. He wasn't going to force her progress, he just wanted to touch her, but when he felt her shiver as the tips of his claws lightly brushed her scalp he immediately let go.

Kagome paused in what she was doing to glance up at him, then, recognizing that he'd snatched his hand away as if afraid he'd done something wrong.

"If I'd wanted a man who didn't have claws, I would have _chosen_ a man who didn't have claws," she reminded him before getting back to work, and she was immediately rewarded when the hanyou hesitantly put his hand back on her head.

Getting braver after a moment, Inuyasha then tightened his fist in her hair again, a little harder than last time, his blunt claws scraping her scalp more heavily, and she shivered again in a way he quickly realized was a _good_ shiver. Not only was she not bothered by his claws, she was actually _into_ them.

Feeling emboldened, then, he did it again, lightly brushing his claws against the back of her head over and over as he petted her, running his fingers through her hair lovingly, until a sudden move on her part had him gasping and yanking her head back away from him. She didn't appear displeased by his rough treatment of her in the slightest.

"Damn, you're good at that. A little _too_ good. But I want the real thing," he said with a strained voice, breathing heavily, and rather than blushing, she smirked.

"Then lay back in the bed," Kagome replied, and before she could even blink Inuyasha somehow had the blankets pulled down to the foot of the bed and was lying in bed properly, in the middle, head propped up slightly against the pillows that were propped up against the headboard.

Grinning broadly, she crawled up to join him, settling herself above him without preamble. She was a little surprised at herself and her willingness to proceed so quickly, with zero foreplay on her end, but the sight of him alone was enough to have her wanting him and honestly, she didn't mind his desire to get on with it.

She was positive he would play around with her first if asked. Even if she didn't ask. She would bet she could crawl even farther up and prop herself up above his face and he would go to town without being told, his canine instincts wanting to make sure she was 'ready' for him, but in that moment, as she grabbed his endowment to hold him steady as she lowered herself over him, she didn't feel as if she was cheating herself in the slightest.

Inuyasha watched her every move, staring with rapt attention as they joined inch by delicious inch, and Kagome was proven right in her guess that he wouldn't mind participating in a little foreplay when, as she slowly started moving above him, he took it upon himself to reach for her with his right hand to add some extra stimulation with his thumb.

He was _very_ careful of his claws, even though he'd suspected that Kagome wouldn't be worried about it, which she didn't seem to be in the slightest, he noted.

Kami, the feel of her; he could lose himself completely, but he wanted to give something back, and make sure she didn't regret choosing him. But he wasn't doing it _just_ for her, and those absolutely beautiful faces she was making, or those adorably cute little moans that were escaping her throat. He was also doing it because nothing felt as good as being joined with a woman while she climaxed.

A few of the women he'd been with in the past had pleasured themselves at his command, no doubt adding it to his tab. None of them had wanted his claws near their neither region; even the ones who hadn't told him no had smelt afraid, and so he simply hadn't. If he succeeded in this, Kagome would be the first woman he'd pleasured in such a way.

Moaning and gasping, it took Kagome a moment to regain her rhythm as she rocked above him on her knees, his added touch proving...distracting...but most definitely in a _good_ way and she most definitely had _no_ complaints. Shifting her legs so that instead of sitting on him with her legs folded back, her shins and knees resting on the mattress as she gently rocked against him, she moved her legs into a squatting position, her feet flat on the mattress at either side of his hips. She could move up and down much faster that way, which she promptly demonstrated, slamming herself down on top of him over and over as best she could. Unconsciously, hand fell away from her as his eyes closed, his hips raising up to meet her thrusts as his heartbeat quickened.

 _Oh kami_... he thought, his blood boiling.

Grabbing her waist suddenly, stilling her movements, Inuyasha smirked as Kagome's expression turned inquisitive. No, she hadn't almost thrown him over the edge. Not physically, at least. But the mental control he'd had over himself to let her take him at her own pace was thrown out the proverbial window as soon as she'd sped up a little. Holding her still with his left hand on her waist, then, keeping her raised slightly above him, he rapidly started thrusting up into her, faster than a human man could move, while his right thumb resumed its previous activity. He would show her what it was truly like to bed a youkai. Even while on the bottom, _he_ was the dominant partner.

Kagome could do nothing but hold on for the ride as all of a sudden it was like she was sitting on a bucking bronco of pleasure. Faster than what should have been possible, Inuyasha was shattering her entire soul with the amount of raw pleasure he was literally pounding into her. Kagome had just enough connecting shreds of awareness left to realize two seconds before it happened that she was about to climax, and then it hit her, ecstasy rushing up on her so hard and fast that her brain basically flat-lined as she tilted her head back and _screamed_.

Inuyasha moaned throatily as he felt her clamp down around him, but he didn't slow his pace. Not for a second. If she actually said the word 'stop' he would, in an instant, but so long as she just kept on screaming her pleasure then as far as he was concerned she was enjoying it.

Boy was she ever.

There was no thought process going on in Kagome's mind. Just pure, uncensored bliss. It started like a burning fire where they were connected and spread out over the rest of her body like a tingling wave of warmth. Her muscles wouldn't stop spasming, she couldn't open her eyes, there was a ringing in her ears like she was going to pass out – and she just might, actually – but the _only_ thought that managed to claw and climb its way to the surface amid the disoriented chaos was that she _did not_ want it to end.

All good things had to come to an end, though, unfortunately, and Inuyasha finally _came_ to his after a couple of minutes of moving his hips so fast that a human observer would've seen them as a blur. When it hit him, he instantly stilled, his back arched with hips raised, both of his hands on Kagome's waist holding her down as he _exploded_ in an eruption of pleasure with a cry so loud that, just like with her previous scream, any occupants in the surrounding rooms undoubtedly heard him loud and clear.

She was lucky he was shooting blanks, or he would've knocked her up for sure. As it was, she was going to smell like him for quite a few days. He smirked in pride at the thought. Some of his past tricks...not all of them, but some...had insisted on using condoms, despite the fact that he couldn't get a woman pregnant and couldn't transmit a human STD. The _only_ reason to use a condom with a hanyou was to prevent youkai noses from smelling what, or more precisely _whom,_ you'd done. That the subject had never even come up with Kagome was yet one more thing to add to the list of things that made her special. It was really too bad she wasn't currently in the market for a new boyfriend; he would've volunteered in half a second if she were.

 _Get your head outta the clouds_... he scolded himself then, as he lowered his hips back down to the bed, Kagome desperately trying to catch her breath above him.

He smiled as he looked up at her, her eyes closed for the moment. Then his smile faded a little. Just because she had been willing to go to bed with him didn't mean she would want an actual _relationship_ with him. An actual relationship involved things like all your friends and family finding out. Only youkai noses would be able to detect what she'd done; her powerful reiki-wielding family would never know. What tiny residual amount of youki might linger in his semen she could purify in a heartbeat.

He supposed he could probably get himself a gold digging girlfriend if he put out an ad on one of those dating sites, find basically a long-term private whore who would live with him so long as he spoiled her rotten, but he wasn't _that_ desperate for companionship. He wanted the real thing, and until then, just the occasional night with a pro – or miraculous one-night-stand – was enough to sate his physical desires.

A part of him was tempted to ask Kagome for her number in a more casual way, but he seriously doubted she had any desire to become his booty call, either, and he'd already insulted her once tonight by assuming she was an escort. That a regular woman just after a one-night-stand had chosen _him_ would be a special memory he'd treasure forever, and hopefully, the two of them could part on good terms.

Tomorrow.

Just because he unfortunately knew he and Kagome wouldn't be seeing each other again after this encounter, that didn't mean he was in a hurry for the encounter to end. He had no intention of shimmying out from under her to grab his clothes before saying his farewells. He could make believe for at least a _little_ while longer. He hoped.

All his wayward thoughts took the span of less than a minute, and his mind quickly rejoined reality when the woman sitting on top of him shifted herself to stretch out and lie down against his chest. Chuckling then, he ran his right hand down along her sweaty back as she panted against him, still trying to catch her breath.

"That...that was..." Kagome started to say, unsure of what she _could_ say to accurately describe what she'd just experienced.

"A good start?" Inuyasha hinted, and she sat back up in surprise, unable to ignore the fact that he was still hard within her even as she stared down at him incredulously.

"A good _start?!"_

He only chuckled again, and bouncing his hips ever so slightly, he countered with, "If you hadn't wanted a man with youkai stamina, then you wouldn't have _chosen_ a man with youkai stamina."

Her eyes widened a bit in surprise at his teasing words and action, but then, with her eyelids lowering a little, her look became more smoldering, his challenge met and accepted.

"Let's see what you've got, then," she stated, and the next thing Kagome knew, she was the one lying flat on her back, her lover nowhere in sight. Just how fast _could_ Inuyasha move when he put forth the effort?

Her missing companion reappeared crouched at the foot of the bed, bending down to put his face between her legs.

"First, I better clean up the mess I made," was her only warning, and then her hands were clutching the pillow at either side of her head as she gasped and moaned, his hands holding her legs apart preventing her from writhing too much.

Inuyasha could have easily just started moving his hips again, but he still vividly remembered how their night together had begun and he felt he owed it to her. Plus, she smelled absolutely divine and he _wanted_ to taste her. That he was actually also tasting himself mixed in didn't bother him in the slightest and he actually found the combined flavor even more alluring.

Kagome certainly had no objections, as she moaned and cried out her pleasure quite loudly. She'd never experienced an inu-youkai's tongue before, and Kagome fell over the edge hard and fast. The hanyou rode out her turbulence as she convulsed below him, until the breathy plea, "No more..." instantly had him backing away.

With her legs spread wide on either side of his own, he knelt before her, licking his lips, and as she tilted her head to gaze down the length of her body to see him kneeling there her eyes widened in surprise at the sight of him. Was it her imagination, or was he even _larger_ than he'd been a few minutes ago?

"You ready for me?" he asked, his voice strained, his muscles bunching and releasing. It was obvious he was barely restraining himself.

Kagome could barely speak, hardly able to catch her breath, but she was still tipsy and still raring to go, despite her fatigue. One look at the horny hanyou kneeling between her legs, and she had _no_ intention of telling him to stop.

"Ready whenever you are."

That was all she needed to say, and he got into position, grabbing her legs and flinging them over his shoulders before joining with her again in one swift motion. She gasped, her breath catching in her throat on a silent scream, and the next thing she knew Inuyasha had her damn near folded in half, his powerful body towering over hers, his hands on the bed on either side of her, her legs bent back with her knees still draped over his shoulders.

Once again, the sound of flesh meeting flesh echoed loudly in the otherwise silent hotel room, but this time, his face was much closer to hers, and as their eyes locked, his seemed to pierce right through her. She felt like her soul was on display to him with the intensity of his gaze. Never before had she had such a passionate lover. This was _supposed_ to just be a rebound to help her get over Hojo. She mentally snorted at the thought, and how absurd a notion it was at that point.

Hojo who?

And now, more importantly, who the hell was she supposed to hook up with to help her get over _Inuyasha_ when everything was said and done?

How was any future boyfriend ever supposed to stack up against him? A casual rebound one night fling wasn't supposed to be the best sex of your life! Now she _really_ understood how some humans fell for youkai lovers. She would be comparing every man she ever met to Inuyasha for the rest of her life.

She wanted to talk dirty to him. She wanted to moan his name over and over in her ecstasy, and give his ego the boost it so rightfully deserved. All Kagome could actually do, however, was gasp and moan illegibly. Somehow, from the amused and dominating smirk in his eyes, she got the impression he understood her loud and clear.

Inuyasha was in absolute heaven, but it didn't take too long for that telltale tingle to travel up his spine a second time. Ordinarily, he'd want to try and hold himself back until the woman below him reached her climax first, but he didn't honestly think he could keep his release at bay for long and besides, they were presently two for one, so this would actually even the score.

That last thought was all it took as his muscles locked, his brain locking up to match as all he could think of was the ability to grunt and moan his pleasure. For a split second he'd started to howl on instinct but hoped he'd managed to change it to a human moan before she'd noticed.

He hadn't.

She'd noticed, and she thought it was sexy as hell. She wished he hadn't held back.

Feeling Inuyasha release a second time, followed by the gradual softening of his member, Kagome wasn't disappointed that their fun had _finally_ come to an end. At that point, she was glad for the reprieve.

As he stilled above her, the miko reached up and cupped the back of his head with her right hand, running her fingers through his hair in a soothing manner. She nearly reached higher to fondle an ear, but paused, figuring even after all they'd shared it would be rude to be so assuming without permission. It was quite possible he wouldn't mind it in the slightest, but it was also quite possible that his ears were a sore subject and it would immediately kill the mood. She couldn't think of a way to ask permission that wouldn't be awkward, though, so she let it go, lowering her hand.

Kagome _would_ have pulled him down into a kiss, but with her legs still draped over his shoulders as they were he was already as close to her as he could get in that position. Any closer, and it would feel like he was trying to fold her up to fit her inside a suitcase. She was in decent shape from the martial arts training she did on a regular basis, but she was no contortionist.

It took Inuyasha a couple of minutes to come back to his senses, but as soon as he did, he pulled himself away from Kagome, flopping down onto his back on the bed beside her on her right, staring up at the ceiling as his heart thundered loudly in his chest.

Kagome took advantage of the moment to go to the bathroom, and then coming back to the bed a couple of minutes later, she climbed back into bed and lied down on her right side so that she was facing him, her head propped up on her hand.

Turning his head to the left to glance her way as well, their eyes met, and he gulped nervously at the unreadable look in her eyes. He knew she would undoubtedly be opening her mouth to say something before too much longer, and so if he wanted to say what he had to say he knew he'd better make it fast.

"Can I...that is, is it all right with you if I stay the night here with you?" he asked, trying to make sure he sounded as sincere as he honestly felt without spooking her with too many emotions.

Rolling over onto his left side to face her directly, a part of him wanted to lean closer and kiss her, but now that their intimacy was over he wasn't sure if he should or not, especially since they hadn't kissed at all yet. If she'd been okay with kissing him then she would have initiated it at some point, he figured. Most of the women he'd been with hadn't kissed him, and even though he knew she wasn't an escort, the whole idea that kissing was more personal, more emotional, might have crossed her own mind, too.

Unaware of the direction his thoughts had wandered off in, and truly touched by the hopefulness she could hear in his voice and see in his eyes, Kagome had no intention of kicking him out of her room in the middle of the night.

"Of course you can stay," she said, and then she did something that promptly flushed his previous line of thinking down the toilet. She leaned over and kissed him.

He kissed her back without hesitation, the action sweet and tender and in no way meant to rekindle the fire between them, since he knew her human body couldn't take it anymore.

As her left hand found purchase on the back of his head, Kagome had to stop herself from reaching higher for the second time, but she quickly realized that her secret desire was not so secret after all when he grabbed her hand and brought it up higher, himself, allowing her left hand to start rubbing his right ear. If it bothered him he didn't show it, and she allowed herself to indulge for the remainder of the kiss, and then pulling apart after a moment, she murmured a softly spoken "Goodnight," before rolling over.

"Not just good, the best," was his whispered reply, as he accepted her silent invitation to wrap his arms around her and pull her into a spooning embrace.


	6. Save a prayer till the morning after

Chapter 6 – Save a prayer till the morning after

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Lying there wide awake, Kagome's nude body pressed snugly against his own as he held her tight while listening to her steady breathing, Inuyasha wished that this night could last forever.

As if his thoughts had jinxed the stillness of the moment, it was right around then that Kagome started to stir. She'd conked out fast and only around an hour had passed since 'they' had gone to sleep. He let her go when she started to pull away from him, silently praying they weren't about to do an awkward 'morning after' at this time of night. Even though she'd already told him he could stay with her until morning his natural insecurities were still hard to ignore.

But turning her head and meeting his eyes, Kagome quickly put his growing fears to rest when she flashed him a small but genuine smile. She hadn't forgotten he was there, nor did she regret their activities in the slightest. Her scent would've betrayed her had her smile been forced in any way.

"Sorry to wake you. I gotta pee again!" she said with a chuckle as she squirmed out of bed and made a dash for the bathroom, the sound of his own laughter making her smile grow as she inadvertently slammed the door in her haste to not have an accident.

After relieving her bladder, and brushing her teeth since she'd neglected to do so earlier, Kagome made her way back to the bed and in no way attempted to conceal her nudity. Seeing Inuyasha lying there, propped up on his left elbow and grinning at her as she approached, something panged in her heart. She didn't love him. Well, how could she? She didn't _know_ him! But a part of her would like to _get_ to know him, despite the trouble she knew it would cause for her. Debating whether or not it was worth it was making her feel a wave of guilt.

Inuyasha noticed her change in expression and quietly asked her what was wrong as she climbed back into bed. Her scent had become kind of melancholy, which was not a good perfume for her at all. He wanted to make her happy again.

"You really thought I was a prostitute at first?" she asked, instead of answering his question directly.

His ears lowered to his head.

"I'm sor-"

"Oh, no! I'm not offended. I'm...heartbroken for you."

His eyes widened a bit at that. The sadness that was slowly encroaching upon her being was for _him_?

She saw his eyes widen, but plowed forward nonetheless.

"I mean, I just can't help thinking about what it meant. What you said. Has nobody else truly ever wanted you?"

"I..." What could he say? The truth, he supposed. "No, nobody's ever wanted me. I used to ask women out on dates, but a polite no was the _best_ response I ever got. Then one day Miroku said that I just needed to get laid. We all know what _that_ means. And those women...they were good actors, at the very least. They were always pleasing experiences. I probably paid them three times their normal rate. They weren't about to risk upsetting me. I suppose I could try to find a long-term personal escort, aka a gold-digger willing to be my girlfriend in exchange for a bottomless credit card, but I...I don't really want to. I'm lonely, but I'm not _that_ lonely. Sex for money is one thing, but if I'm ever going to find someone to spend the rest of my life with, I want to know it's _real_."

Kagome absorbed everything he said in silence, but she couldn't stop her eyes from tearing up, and as her guilt joined the other unpleasant smells muddying up her beautiful scent Inuyasha sat up in the bed and turned to face her fully.

"What? What's wrong? Please don't cry. _You_ didn't do anything wrong."

"But I did, though," she murmured quietly, even as she allowed him to pull her into a tight embrace. "I used you, just like they do," she murmured against his shoulder.

"Kagome?"

He didn't understand.

"While it wasn't about money with me, I definitely took you being hanyou into consideration, as a benefit for my plans. Yes, I find you attractive. _Very_ attractive. But I'd only been planning a one night thing, and when I saw you, you became the perfect choice. I've always kind of had a thing for youkai, but with _you_ , I knew there was no risk of pregnancy. And while I personally _don't_ agree with society's views on human and youkai couples, I hadn't gone in planning to cause any scandals for my family by bringing home my new hanyou boyfriend, you know? So I used you. I used you for your body, your genetics, like you were just a living sex toy, and I'm sorry."

He pinched his eyes closed at her words, but it wasn't anything he hadn't already known, which he then tried to explain to her.

"I knew that going in, Kagome. You've got nothing to feel guilty about or apologize for. You told me plainly that you'd had a bad breakup and wanted rebound sex."

He quickly decided to take advantage of the moment the kami had provided him to reveal what was in his own heart. Pulling back from the hug, he looked her in the eyes as he poured out the truth.

"While I would be willing to see if there could be something real between us, I'm not selfish enough to ask you to ruin your life for me. I promise I won't get all stalker-ish. If you never want to see me again, you never will. But kami, Kagome, don't feel _guilty_ for giving me the best night of my life. That you were actually _attracted_ to me, and not just doing what I'd paid you to do while secretly feeling disgusted by my youkai traits? You'll never know how much that means to me, that you were looking for a one-night-stand and chose _me._ Yeah, okay, you used me for my body, but that's a _compliment_. It ain't just about me being sterile. You fucking rubbed my ear! Nobody's ever wanted to touch _them_ before. And you kissed me! And you weren't bothered by my claws! In fact I know they turned you on. So _please_ don't feel bad thinking that _I_ feel bad about being used. The only thing about this night that I'm going to regret is when I let you go in the morning. You're one in a million. But if we can't be together, then we can't be together. At least you gave me tonight, and I'll cherish the memory forever."

Kagome started crying again at his words, but they were a different sort of tears and he could tell the difference. A part of her really _did_ want to see him again, but she was torn. He wouldn't push her. Then she glanced up at the ears in question, which flicked in her direction, and she tentatively asked, "May I?"

Wordlessly, he tilted his head down as his eyes drifted closed a second time.

Getting brave, Kagome reached up with both hands and began rubbing both ears. Inuyasha moaned softly at her touch and pressed his head the tiniest bit harder against her hands, which gave her the answer as to whether or not he had been bothered by her earlier caress. Being half inu-youkai, she imagined that he probably actually really liked having his ears rubbed, physically, but she'd wondered if it would bother him emotionally, if his ears were a prominent factor in the ridicule he no doubt experienced on a near daily basis. If nothing else, she was sure they were powerful enough to pick up whatever whispered words were said about him behind his back. She couldn't imagine living like that.

That passing thought had her realizing that, if the two of them _were_ to be in a relationship together, she would suddenly know first hand what it was like to be publicly scorned. But even as she couldn't fathom his emotional pain from being hated his whole life for simply being what he was, being ridiculed for her choice in partner was something else entirely, and she suddenly realized in that moment that not only would she not back down in the face of others' prejudice, she would defend him with her fiery Higurashi spirit. She didn't give a _damn_ about what society thought regarding who she could or couldn't be with.

Her father was another matter, though. Her parents were paying her way through medical school, and she wouldn't put it past her father to use that factor as leverage. Stop seeing 'the hanyou' or else bye-bye medical career.

 _Of course, I'm sure Inuyasha would pay in that case, come to think of it_... Not that she could ever ask him to, but if she chose him over her future career something told her he'd actually insist on paying.

 _Am I really even considering this?_

"Considering what?"

Snapping out of her stupor, Kagome released his ears and sat back in the bed.

"Oh shit, I said that out loud?" she asked while laughing a little at herself.

"Yes, yes you did," he answered while staring at her chest. "My turn to do some fondling," he said then, before she could say anything else, as he reached forward with both hands and cupped her breasts.

Hey, they were just _right there_ , begging him to touch them.

Glancing down at the contact, Kagome's eyes zeroed in on his lap as she realized he was aroused again, the sheet that was just barely covering him tenting up in a rather obvious way.

"So are you going to answer me?" he asked after a moment, letting her know he hadn't gotten distracted. He leaned forward then, and flicked his tongue against a rosy peak. "What are you considering?" he asked, right before he started gently sucking and licking, careful of his fangs.

"Mmmm..." Kagome moaned, unable to form words. Especially when he chuckled against her, the sound sending tingles through her body. Then his left hand started squeezing her right breast again.

He certainly seemed to know what he was doing. That it was experience he'd had to pay for tried to dampen her mood again, but she refused to let it. Especially when his attentions were _dampening_ something else, which to his nose was definitely a better scent than her previously encroaching guilt and sadness.

Kagome cupped the sides of his face, then, as she gently pulled him up and away from her chest, but only so that she could lean forward and press her lips to his. He instantly returned the kiss, which gradually became more passionate as the seconds passed by. Suddenly, his hands were cupping her face as well, until he shifted his hands further back to cup her head, his claws delicately teasing her scalp once more as he gently ran his fingers through her hair.

Neither knew if it was Kagome who lied down first, causing Inuyasha to follow her down, or if he was actually the one who'd unconsciously encouraged her to lie down with him, but the next thing the both of them knew, Kagome was lying on her back with Inuyasha lying on top of her, his manhood pressing against her as he continued to kiss her.

Finally breaking apart for air, Kagome panted for breath a moment, and then smiling up at him, seeing the way he was smiling down at her in return, she decided to answer his question.

"What I was considering was whether or not to give _us_ a try," she began honestly. "My mother would probably be okay with it, but I honestly don't know how my father would react. I think I really would like to see you again, though, if you'll agree to taking things slowly at first and not just expect us to instantly be boyfriend and girlfriend with continued intimacy. If he found out how we _really_ met he'd _never_ approve, so mums the word. Plus pretty soon I'm going to be too busy with medical school again to do much of anything, anyway. We might be reduced to nothing but phone calls and texts for a while, until we can figure things out, but if you're willing to try, and accept my busy schedule, I'll give you my number, on one condition."

He raised an eyebrow at that, and asked, "And that is?"

"That we christen the start of seeing where this thing takes us by having sex one last time, which it looks like we're headed for anyway, but _this_ time, I want you take me from behind, like the dog you are," she told him with a wicked smirk, her eyes sparkling.

It was a position she'd always wanted to try, hearing about how a lot of women found it the most pleasurable, but Hojo had downright refused, saying he found the position demeaning. She'd always found it ironic that the _one_ so-called demeaning thing she'd actually _wanted_ him to do, he'd refused, even though he'd then proceeded to demean her in every other way imaginable.

In that moment, however, Kagome's reflections back on her past relationship with Hojo were abruptly cut short as she suddenly found herself flipped over onto her stomach. She was unhurt, but Inuyasha had moved so quickly that she hadn't even realized he'd moved at all until suddenly she was bouncing face down on the mattress. Quickly, she scrambled herself up onto her hands and knees, facing the headboard.

She wasn't supposed to be thinking about Hojo anymore, anyway. That had been the whole point of this entire night.

In the time it took for Kagome to get into position her demonic lover was already more than ready for her, clawed hands gripping her hips firmly, though not _too_ hard; the sensation had Kagome focusing her entire awareness on the here and now as the half youkai man behind her wasted no time completing their joining.

She gasped loudly, but not in pain, which Inuyasha must have known beyond a shadow of a doubt because he didn't hesitate even the slightest as he immediately began moving. Reaching forward and grabbing on to the headboard to prevent herself from sliding too far forward and hitting her head, Kagome found that once again she could do nothing but hold on for the ride, and she was loving every minute of it.

"Don't...nghnnn...don't hold b-back this time..." she managed to rasp. "I wanna hear you _howl_."

Inuyasha was momentarily surprised by the request, but then he smirked, a rare look of genuine rather than false confidence that the miko couldn't see in her current position.

"You really _do_ have a thing for youkai, don't you?" he teased her. "You naughty little miko, you."

Kagome only laughed, or tried to, the sound turning into a broken gasp and moan as he picked up his tempo.

Relishing in the knowledge that for once in his life, a sexy, horny woman had chosen _him_ for no reason other than wanting to have sex with him, that she actually _wanted_ to have sex with _him_ and just for the sake of _sex,_ not because of what she'd gain financially, and now to also hear that even though she hadn't been in the market for a new boyfriend she was now willing to at least _see_ if there could be something more permanent between them one day, it didn't take Inuyasha long at all to completely lose himself, just like his date had requested.

He slammed forward hard and fast, careful not to pierce her hips with his claws, although that was the only courtesy he offered her. Feeling his third release fast approaching, he didn't slow down for even a second, and as it was ripped from him a howl tore from his throat to match. Head tilted back, he bayed at the ceiling, like a hunting dog finding its prey. Half the hotel probably heard him, and neither he nor Kagome could have cared less.

He stayed like that for several seconds until finally catching his breath, his body relaxing. Not willing to leave their scores uneven, even though he was currently ahead, the hanyou gently pulled away from his lover before murmuring softly for her to lie back down so that he could 'clean up the mess he'd made' one more time. As worn out and sated as Kagome was, she wasn't about to refuse him, for selfish as well as non-selfish reasons – since he actually _wanted_ to – and it didn't take that long for his wickedly talented tongue to bring the miko to her own third climax of the night.

"Mmmm...better than ramen," he chuckled as he crawled back up the bed, licking his lips.

"Thank you?" Kagome replied, chuckling as well.

"Oh, it's a compliment, _believe_ me. Ramen is, or at least _used_ to be, my favorite food." He waggled his eyebrows at her, causing her to snort-laugh, which had him laughing a second time as well.

She was so fucking adorable.

"What's your favorite food?" he asked her then, seeming genuinely curious, and she figured they might as well start the process of getting to know each other better, so she answered, "Oden."

"What about for breakfast?" he asked her then. "Are you a fish and miso kinda girl, or pancakes, or...?"

She just shrugged.

"Honestly, I'm not picky. When I'm in school I usually just have a bagel or a bowl of cereal."

"That makes sense," he replied with an understanding nod.

"What about you?"

He quirked his lip, showing a fang.

"Ramen."

She laughed again.

"Tea or coffee, or neither?" he asked her then, volunteering upfront, "I got addicted to espresso, which Miroku teases is definitely my human side showing through because a youkai should not require caffeine." His sheepish smile let her know he was being serious.

"Well you _are_ half human, so there's nothing wrong with the occasional human vice," Kagome agreed, adding, "At home I'll just drink regular coffee with cream, but whenever I'm out I usually get a mocha, 'cause as a human _woman_ I'm also addicted to _chocolate_."

They both had another brief laugh and then Kagome asked him, "Hey, can _you_ have chocolate, or are you allergic to it because of your inu half?"

"I can have chocolate," he verified. "My mom was worried about that, too, when I was a kid. Even after my father assured her that pure-blooded inu-youkai aren't sensitive to chocolate, either, 'cause we just aren't susceptible to mortal weaknesses, she was still cautious 'cause you never do know with hanyou. Something weird could've happened with my genetics. So she started me off slowly, then gradually gave me a little more, bit by bit, until she knew I wasn't going to have a reaction."

"That was smart of her," Kagome agreed with a nod. "Better to find out. If you'd started to get sick to your stomach then she would've known to make sure you never accidentally had a _lot_ of chocolate all at once, like pigging out on Halloween candy or something."

"Kami, I loved Halloween..." Inuyasha said then, reminiscing. "I always dressed up as something that required a full head mask. Even if it smashed my ears, I didn't care. It was the one night a year all the other kids just treated me like a normal kid, 'cause they had no idea who I was under the mask. My mother would dress up too, in relation to whatever my costume was, as a way of making sure my classmates wouldn't accidentally recognize her, either. So did my aunt, Miroku's mother, 'cause he and I always Trick or Treated together. Whenever a kid at school asked me about Halloween, teasing me, telling me I already _was_ the perfect costume, I always lied and said that I hated Halloween and that I never went Trick or Treating because Halloween was stupid. They all laughed 'cause they thought they had successfully bullied the half-breed out of participating in the fun event. They never suspected a thing."

Feeling sorry for him yet again, Kagome was about to comment on how unfair it was that his childhood had been so unpleasant, but then her words were stilled by an untimely yawn that had him chuckling again.

"It's late, we should get some sleep," he told her then.

Readily agreeing, because suddenly she was having a hard time keeping her eyes open, they settled down together in bed just like before, Kagome facing away from Inuyasha with both of them lying on their left sides so that he could spoon her from behind and hold her in his arms all night long. She hopefully wouldn't have to break the tranquility a second time with any more bathroom breaks, but looking back on everything, she was definitely grateful her bladder had woken her up.

And so was he.

Even if things ended up not working out between them in the long run, it would just be because they hadn't been compatible with one another, not because she was prejudice and shallow and didn't want to be in a relationship with a hanyou outside of secret booty calls. Hell, the woman had started to feel _guilty_ about desiring him sexually because she had still considered that _using_ him! He still didn't think she fully comprehended just how fucking awe inspiring it was for him to realize that she found him attractive.

Even though he knew that having a youkai fetish was a thing for some humans, and that as a hanyou he'd definitely be the safer option if the woman wanted to avoid an accidental pregnancy, if Kagome had truly been _that_ kind of a girl through and through then she wouldn't have felt guilty about it afterwards, and she most certainly wouldn't have relented and agreed to give _them_ a try as a regular couple. The kink was there. She was into his ears, and his fangs, and his claws, but fucking hell that was a _good_ thing! He'd used to think that he wanted to find a woman willing to overlook his youkai traits, who'd love him for him despite his youkai blood and not see him as a freak of nature, but he realized now, loving him for him _included_ his youkai heritage, and while he understood that Kagome didn't _love_ him, yet, she obviously liked him well enough to try, and that was all he could really ask for at the moment.

Staying in touch with her, even if they only texted for months, _years_ , was better than her disappearing from his life never to be seen or heard from again. Staying in tough with her meant there was hope for the future. Allowing himself to actually drift off to sleep, the scent of their latest joining perfuming the air, Inuyasha couldn't remember a time he'd ever felt happier.

As for Kagome, who'd snuggled deeper into his embrace as she felt unconsciousness slowly seep into her mind, her last thoughts were that she was nervous about her decision to try giving them a try, but also that she didn't regret it. It wasn't like she'd ever be able to find anybody _else_ to be her new boyfriend after him, anyway. No human man would ever measure up to him sexually, at the very least. That might seem shallow, but so what? He was hands down the best lay she'd ever had, and what was so wrong with wanting to keep him? But she refused to continue just using him for sex, and that was why she'd said she wanted to take things slowly, and not immediately continue on with an intimate relationship. It was for both their sakes; she didn't want the only times they texted each other to be for booty calls. She wanted to actually get to know more about him than just how many different sexual positions he was good at, and if he honestly wanted a real relationship too then he would not only respect her decision in that regard, but he should feel the same way, wanting to learn more about her, as well.

Which seemed to be the case, if their casual chat about favorite foods was any indication.

And at least he already knew about medical school and her desire to become a pediatrician, and while for a split second she'd thought that information had shocked him, it'd quickly turned out that that was only because he had thought she was busy with a _different_ sort of career _._ He hadn't said a single discouraging thing in regard to her actual career goals, so he was already one up on Hojo as far as she was concerned, not even including the bedroom.

She would keep her promise to give him her phone number in the morning, and then they'd just take it from there. He'd already promised _her_ that he wouldn't get all stalker-ish, and she wasn't worried about him becoming a creep because she knew _he_ knew she could zap him one if it ever came down to it. His youkai strength was in no way threatening to her, not that he struck her as the type to act that way, anyway. He seemed genuinely humbled by her honest attraction to him, and eager for her proposal if the way he'd flipped her over as soon as she'd barely finished talking was any indication.

Medical school was going to take her a while, and then after that came her residency, but even though her life was going to be hectic for the next several years moving forward that didn't mean she had to continue living at home at the Higurashi shrine throughout it all. For a brief time she'd been contemplating moving in with Hojo, after all, so what was stopping her from moving in with a different boyfriend, instead, should she end up deciding after a few months that she did, in fact, have a new boyfriend? Her last thought as unconsciousness finally claimed her was that she could definitely get used to the feeling of falling asleep in Inuyasha's arms every night.


	7. No Regrets

Chapter 7 – No Regrets

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The next morning, Kagome awoke to a mild hangover, and an empty hotel room. There wasn't even the slight chance of misunderstanding and he was just in the bathroom, because the feel of his demonic aura was gone.

Her immediate reaction was to feel crushed. Sure, their night together had started as just a simple one-night-stand, but it hadn't ended that way, and despite herself, emotions had obviously come into play otherwise she wouldn't now be feeling betrayed. Here she was just muscling up the courage to try giving them a try, and she _was_ going to give him her phone number, consequences be damned, and then apparently _he'd_ had a change of heart? That...that coward!

Sniffling, she tried to tell herself not to jump to conclusions. She should probably at least look to see if he'd written her a note, first. Maybe he went ahead and gave her _his_ phone number? Glancing at the nightstand, then, she saw that the notepad provided by the hotel had in fact been moved, away from the phone and closer to the edge of the nightstand, right next to her, and it had something written on it. It took a second for her to wipe a few wayward tears out of her eyes, and then she picked up the pad to read what it said.

" _Just ran down for breakfast. BRB"_

Wait...what?

And then she felt it, a demonic aura slowly getting closer and closer. Glancing at the clock, her eyes bugged a little when she realized it was only just a little after 7am. Checkout wasn't for four hours yet.

The beep of the door let her know he had her key card, and then the door swung open to reveal Inuyasha, fully dressed in his outfit from the night before, holding a cardboard tray with two to-go cups of coffee on it in his left hand, a paper to-go bag of some sort hanging from his mouth while he opened the door with his right hand while also holding the key card in that same hand.

She grinned up at him, hoping not to reveal the conclusion she'd foolishly jumped to upon waking, but her smile didn't quite reach her eyes, and one sniff of the air was all it took to have Inuyasha hastily setting the food and drinks down on the entryway table next to her cocktail purse as he rushed to her side, the door swinging closed on its own behind him.

"What's wrong?" he asked her frantically, his ears lowering to his head. "Are you regretting our arrangement?" As much as it'd pain him, if she regretted agreeing to see him again then he wouldn't hold her to it.

"Oh no, no no no..." she assured him as she sat up a little more fully in bed, unconsciously holding the blanket up over her chest. "I...I didn't see your note at first. I thought _you_ had regretted-"

"I'll never regret _anything_ that has to do with you," he interrupted, his tone of voice soft, gentle. "Except if we do end up having a genuine relationship, and then somehow down the road I blow it and you dump me. _That_ I'll regret."

She chuckled a little, and then raised her right hand up to her head, winching a little as laughing had made her headache worse. Inuyasha didn't even comment that letting go of that edge of the blanket exposed her right breast.

"Headache?" he asked instead, producing a travel packet of aspirin from his pocket. "I stopped in the gift shop first before the coffee place," he said as he handed her the aspirin before quickly grabbing one of the unopened bottles of water that were sitting on top of the hotel's minibar and handing it to her.

Downing the pills, Kagome mumbled her gratitude.

"I don't usually drink like that, and this is why," she said. "Even though I've got a high enough tolerance that I can have a few drinks and not be a total slosh, and I remember everything the next morning, I also end up getting a killer headache." Sniffing the air, herself, even though her sense of smell was nowhere near as strong as her companion's, she couldn't miss the scent of fresh coffee as she added, "But at least I'm not sick to my stomach. Bring that shit over here."

Chuckling, Inuyasha grabbed the coffees and bag and climbed back up into bed to sit beside her. Kagome consciously decided to just let the blanket drop to her waist, then. She hadn't been trying to preserve her modesty before; she'd just been clutching it like a safety blanket in her emotional upset.

"One mocha latte," Inuyasha said as he handed her her cup of coffee, and her eyes widened in surprise before understanding dawned.

"Oh, you're slick," she said then. "I _so_ did not catch on that you were quizzing me about what to bring me in the morning."

He chuckled again.

"It hadn't started out that way. When I made that crack about ramen I was just joking around, although ramen really _is_ my favorite food. But then yeah, it dawned on me that if I was nonchalant enough about it, I could find out if I should bring you coffee or tea this morning."

"You know there's a pot right over there for making coffee or tea, right?" Kagome pointed out, as she gestured to the coffee pot on the side counter and the collection of tea bags and instant coffee packets.

Inuyasha crinkled his nose. "Bleh," he said playfully, before taking a nice long sip from his to-go cup. "I told you, I'm addicted to espresso." Then he grabbed the paper bag that had been sitting on the far side of him and plopped it down on the bed between them. "Plus besides bringing you a _chocolate_ coffee, I also bought bagels. Figured you could use some bread in your stomach."

"Yes please," Kagome answered eagerly as she reached inside the bag, grabbing one of the two plain bagels inside plus the plastic knife and one of the two packets of cream cheese. Inuyasha then grabbed his own and they both ate their bagels in relative silence.

"Looks like things went well between Miroku and Sango last night," he said casually after a little while.

"Oh?"

Nodding, Inuyasha explained, "I got enough of her scent to know it's her, and the feel of Miroku's reiki is unmistakable even if I didn't know his scent as well as I do. He not only went into a room up the hall with your friend, but the feel of his reiki tells me he's still there. I didn't stick around long enough to hear if they were awake yet or not."

Kagome beamed a genuine smile at him at this news, and he did his best to imprint the moment to his memory forever, just in case she never looked at him like that again, although he would do his best to make sure she looked at him like that every day that they were together.

"Good, I'm so happy for her. Even if those two just agreed to keep it a one-night-stand, nothing wrong with that. Sango definitely deserved a night of fun, 'cause her life's usually work, work, work. She's a big girl; if Miroku's not interested in anything further it won't break her heart."

Inuyasha nodded his understanding to that, then added, "Miroku's a bit of a player, it's true. But I've always believed he was just waiting for the right girl to come along. Who knows?"

"Well, and if you and I stay in touch, then they'll probably end up seeing each other again at some point even if they didn't plan on it," Kagome added shyly. "I won't have _much_ free time once school starts back up again, but I'm sure we could at least do lunch from time to time. I don't plan on disappearing to the point where we _only_ text or speak over the phone and we never see each other in person ever again."

"I...would like that...a lot. And I'm willing to take things however slowly you need to, not just between us, but I mean, with your family. If you need to wait a while before confessing to them who you're seeing, I understand."

"We'll...figure that out, one day at a time, yeah. I don't _want_ to keep you a secret, but I'm also not looking forward to hearing what my father will say about his 'reputation' and all that crap. Maybe...maybe we should just wait and see how our relationship goes, first, and if we're real or not. What if it turns out that outside of the bedroom we have nothing in common? What if we end up hating each other?"

Inuyasha nodded his understanding. "I'd hate for you to alienate yourself from your family for no reason," he agreed.

"But, Inuyasha..." Grabbing his hand, Kagome looked into his eyes, and her heart melted. "I think...I think I'm already falling in love with you." His breathing hitched, his eyes widening a bit. "I want to be sure," she rushed to continue, "'cause I thought I was falling for Hojo, too, and then he showed his true colors, and I realized he was _not_ the right man for me, but so far at least, from what I know of you, you're _nothing_ like him."

She explained then, what their breakup had been about. How Hojo had belittled her career goals and tried to treat her as his 'little woman' whose place was at home.

"I'm glad you dumped his ass," Inuyasha told her once her story was over. "You definitely don't have to worry about that with me. I mean sure, I could _totally_ support you financially, and I wouldn't mind since I'd know you weren't just be using me for my money, but I think it's awesome that you want to become a doctor, and especially a pediatrician. And you know I obviously don't mind that you said you don't want kids of your own for a while, since you and I also both know that if you ever _did_ want kids, I couldn't give them to you. But just so you know? If it ever got to that point, I would be totally cool with adoption. I mean..."

Realizing he was rambling, he saw the somewhat shocked look on her face and cringed, mumbling a quiet, "Never mind. I'm getting _way_ too ahead of myself."

Kagome melted into a fit of giggles then.

"Yeah," she agreed. "I mean, you should probably ask me to marry you before we start talking about adoption," she said, amused rather than upset.

He grimaced anyway, offering her a half smile as he figured he should explain.

"I ain't like that Hojo bastard. I'm not gonna just up and start talking about our lives together like he did with you, without your agreement at least. I know things might not work out between us. I'm just sayin'...just giving you my thoughts on the matter is all, so you don't gotta wonder what I _would_ think about it. Now you know you hypothetically deciding you want kids after all wouldn't be a deal breaker on my end."

Her eyes softened at that, and she took his hand again.

"And I appreciate that," she stated honestly. "I do need to know what your positions are on these sorts of things. We both do, about each other, so that we can weigh the pros and cons of a potential relationship. If I wanted to have my own babies, then you being sterile would be an issue, although it'd still be workable if you didn't mind me using artificial insemination. _Fortunately_ ," she continued right away before he could say anything on that point, " _if_ and when I ever decide I want children, I would be okay with adoption, too. Skipping the whole pregnancy part is fine with me!" Chuckling again, she added, "But first things first."

"Absolutely. Working on your medical career definitely comes first," Inuyasha agreed right away.

Smirking, Kagome playfully countered with, "No, getting up and getting _dressed_ comes first."

"Ah man, I was hoping for a quickie before checkout," he teased, not really serious.

She arched an eyebrow at him.

"Well in that case, what are you doing still dressed?"

Thirty seconds later, Inuyasha was as naked as she was, and Kagome would've started laughing again but she was silenced by his kiss.

Three separate 'quickies' later found them both enjoying each other's company in the shower that was large enough for two people. Kagome hadn't previously thought she'd bother with a shower in the hotel since everything had dried, planning on showering and then soaking in her own bathroom as soon as she got home, but now that she was freshly sticky again it had become more of a necessity. Inuyasha hadn't minded her excusing herself to the bathroom to shower, _especially_ when she invited him to join her, and after taking turns soaping up each other's bodies they had quickie number four, which involved Kagome standing in front of him with her back to him as she leaned forward, her hands braced on the wall in front of her for balance as he slammed into her from behind, the sound of flesh slapping flesh echoing loudly in the enclosed space.

Afterwards, with both of them dressed in the main room, Inuyasha back in his old clothes again while Kagome wore the simple jeans and shirt she'd packed in her luggage for the morning after, he said, "I promise I won't try to pressure you into sex going forward. You want to take things slow and I respect that. You wanna make sure we're compatible outside of the bedroom. You've given me _more_ than enough memories to jerk off to..." She giggled at his honestly. "...but if _you_ ever _want_ to do anything, if _you're_ horny, you just say the word."

"Will do," she agreed with a smirk.

They'd already exchanged numbers, by adding themselves as contacts in each other's phones. Inuyasha had promised he'd be available at her beck and call, if she ever wanted to do lunch or dinner or just wanted somebody to go to the grocery store with her, because he didn't have a life. He'd said it with enough lightheartedness that Kagome had just grinned at him instead of letting the deeper meaning behind his words get her down.

"If you're trying to spoil me, it's working," she said then, also with a teasing edge.

With it nearing time for checkout, and neither she nor Inuyasha receiving a text from either Sango or Miroku yet, Kagome decided to just check out of her room using the service on the TV and then sent Sango a brief text message herself, saying that she'd checked out and would be waiting for 'them' downstairs at the lounge. The hotel had a casual bar besides the Taboo nightclub, and while the club was currently closed the lounge opened at 10am, probably in anticipation of club goers needing hair of the dog the following day.

Inuyasha walked out with her, and as they passed Sango's room both of them could sense that Miroku was still in there, and Inuyasha even heard talking, but he didn't want to eavesdrop so he and Kagome quickly continued on to the elevator. Miroku had undoubtedly sensed the both of them walk by, too, so hanyou and miko both figured they'd be joining up with their respective companions before too much longer. A hypothesis that was confirmed when, not five minutes later, Kagome received a text back from Sango that said _"We're on our way down."_

Arriving on the first floor, Inuyasha and Kagome went ahead and ordered a couple of drinks at the lounge, just a beer and mimosa, respectively. Kagome still had a bit of a hangover but she'd made a comment in the elevator about drinking alone so he ordered the beer for her sake. A simple yet kind gesture that really meant a lot to her. As did bringing her a mocha and bagel that morning.

Getting their drinks, they had a seat at the bar while awaiting the monk and martial artist's arrival. A couple other people who were sitting farther down gave them some _looks_ but Kagome just glared back before engaging Inuyasha in random chitchat. A simple yet kind gesture that really meant a lot to _him._ Miroku and Sango showed up all smiles a few minutes later, the latter also wearing her comfortable 'next day' outfit, which, at the sight of the hanyou's wrinkled shirt, prompted Miroku to make a joke at his and his cousin's expense that _they_ were the ones sporting the official 'walk of shame' uniform that morning.

Inuyasha did chuckle along with the others, but then daring to wrap his arm around Kagome's shoulder as he gave her an affectionate smile, he then met Miroku's eyes and said, "I'm not ashamed of anything, are you?"

It was Miroku's turn to grin, first at Inuyasha and then at Sango.

"No, no I'm not," the houshi replied, earning a cute blush from the martial artist as he wrapped his arm around her, as well.

"Kagome?" Sango asked her client and best friend then, the single word perfectly articulating her need for clarification of...everything.

"I _told_ you I'd never done the whole one-night-stand thing before, Sango," Kagome started, her tone teasing. "So I guess it turns out I'm no good at it. Inuyasha and I plan on continuing to see each other."

Sango's eyes widened at Kagome's confession, and for half a second the miko was afraid her best friend was actually about to start lecturing her on why somebody like _her_ dating a _hanyou_ would not be a good idea, but then the personal trainer said, "Miroku and I plan on seeing each other again, too!"

Grinning broadly then, Kagome held up her drink and said, "This calls for a celebration!" before downing the last of her mimosa.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

With both couples going their separate ways, for now, at least, playtime was most definitely over as Kagome thrust herself back into real life. With her family only having known that she and Sango had gone out for a 'girls night out' they remained in the dark regarding the more intimate details, or any details at all, really, since Kagome didn't tell her family _where_ Sango had taken her. They had no idea she'd met a man or was now tentatively in an official relationship, or at least the experimental stages of one.

On the one hand, she felt guilty keeping such a secret from them, but on the other hand, it was kind of exciting, and naughty, having a secret lover her family knew nothing about.

She and Inuyasha texted each other daily, and spoke over the phone whenever Kagome's parents and brother weren't home, so as not to risk being overheard. Once school was back in session their evening texting usually didn't last long, since she had schoolwork to do, but even if they only sent each other quick hellos and goodbyes they still communicated every day.

True to her word, in regard to not letting them end up never seeing each other in person again, Kagome also managed to find the rare spare hour for a quick lunch date on occasion. She was a _little_ worried that somebody would recognize her, that there would be gossip that would somehow or another get back to her mother or father, but a part of her, and not even an unconscious part, also couldn't say she didn't actually want that to happen. If her parents just suddenly confronted her one day then she would no longer have to worry about building up the courage to mention it first.

Nothing like that ever happened, though, and as the weeks turned into months, Kagome was pretty damn sure Inuyasha was the one. She didn't hesitate to tell him so, either, and he easily confessed that he felt the same way.

At first, it might have been infatuation based on the simple fact that she was the first woman willing to give him the time of day of her own free will, never mind being attracted to him physically and willing to have sex with him that first night. Now, though, as he got to know the real Kagome, her hopes and dreams and fears, as they had a few good arguments which she'd later joked just went to prove they were a real couple now, he realized that it hadn't really been a joke. They _were_ a real couple now, and he'd never been happier.

He and Kagome even double-dated with Sango and Miroku a couple of times. The martial artist and houshi were also still going strong after all this time, and with much less secrecy than their friends. Miroku even came by the family dojo every so often, watching his girlfriend in action. She'd volunteered to teach him a few moves, once, but he'd made a joke about not being sure if he could control himself if she got him flat on his back, even in such a public setting, and blushing cherry red she hadn't offered to train him since.

Of course, when he'd first heard the story, Inuyasha had made a crack about his cousin being untrainable, or so he'd _thought_ , but that apparently he'd been wrong and if anyone could train him, Sango could. It had been exceedingly obvious to the pair that the hanyou hadn't been referring to self-defense techniques. His vote of confidence had had poor Sango blushing a second time, and then when she'd tried to retaliate with a crack about how Kagome clearly already had _him_ trained, Inuyasha hadn't even denied it.

"Yes, yes she does," he'd agreed instead.

Now, with hanyou and miko both in agreement that they wanted to stay together indefinitely, and having officially 'taken it slow' long enough that they'd also worked their way back into the bedroom – namely Inuyasha's bedroom in his luxury apartment – Kagome felt the need to tell her family _something_ because she really wanted to move out of her childhood home and go live with the man she wanted to spend the rest of her life with.

Finally, one night, she confessed to her mother that she was seeing someone. Not only that, but that she'd _been_ seeing him ever since her 'girls night out' with Sango, although she also explained how 'seeing' consisted mostly of texting and brief lunch dates because of her studies. Fibbing only a little, knowing what she'd better omit, at least for now, she told her mother only that she had 'met' him that night with Sango and they had exchanged numbers, and that now, after getting to know each other better, they were seriously involved. With her mother already aware that Sango now had a steady boyfriend of her own, since Sango and Miroku's relationship wasn't a secret, Kagome even took it a step further and told her mother that _her_ boyfriend was actually Miroku's cousin, and that she and Sango had met them together while they'd been out 'having fun' that night.

At her mother's inquiry as to why she'd kept it a secret for so long Kagome cited what'd happened with Hojo, and that at first she hadn't been sure if their relationship was going to go anywhere and she hadn't wanted to announce a new boyfriend prematurely if it turned they were incomparable. At least, unlike Hojo, he too had been willing to give their relationship a test run first, with the understanding that things might not work out between them. Now, though, now that they had both acknowledged their love for each other and their desire to stay together indefinitely, Kagome told her mother she'd known it was finally time to come clean. Hojo hadn't been the one, but _this_ man _was_.

"I'm worried, though," she admitted then. "I'm worried you and Daddy...might not approve of him."

"Oh, Kagome..." her mother started then, trying to sound reassuring. "If he's related to Miroku then I'm sure everything's fine." Thinking about it a moment, she tentatively added, "He's not some lowlife, is he?"

"Oh, no, no no no," Kagome assured her mother right away. "In fact he's stinking rich, thanks to his father. His mother and Miroku's mother are sisters, so that's how they're related, but his father gave him a trust fund, so he's never had to work a day in his life. He's also super nice and _not_ just some shallow spoiled trust fund brat. He's thoughtful, and charming, and _totally_ respects and even admires my desire to become a doctor. Unlike when Hojo just up and started talking about our plans for our life together, without my input, he and I have been having those discussions much more naturally. I really do think he's the one, and he's told me he feels the same way."

Raising an eyebrow, Mrs. Higurashi asked, "And so you were worried we wouldn't approve because…?"

Swallowing, Kagome confessed, "He's a hanyou."


	8. Guess who's coming to dinner

Chapter 8 – Guess who's coming to dinner

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Mrs. Higurashi just stared at her daughter for a moment, her expression betraying nothing of what she was thinking, although all she was truly doing was trying to read _Kagome's_ expression. Her daughter was nervous, but determined, her _Higurashi fire_ showing, crackling just behind her eyes.

She understood now. If Kagome had confessed right away to having met a hanyou, and thinking that she'd like to date him, while she personally would have only told her daughter to make sure she was fully aware of what difficulties she might face as a result, socially, it was possible her father would have been more against it. It would have come from a place of love, of wanting what was best for his daughter, but still. Now, though, now that she and this young man were already deeply involved, already in love with one another, she could see it in Kagome's eyes. She didn't want to have to choose between them and him, but if they forced her to, she would choose him.

Finally, Mrs. Higurashi smiled.

"Kagome, honey, all your father and I want is for you to be happy. Even if you were in love with a full youkai, which would probably mean hanyou children of your own, if you _loved_ him, and were _happy_ , that's all I want for you. If you love this man..."

Pausing, she interrupted herself and asked, "By the way, what's his name?"

Smiling as she sighed in relief, Kagome replied, "Inuyasha."

Mrs Higurashi smirked.

"Ah, that explains why you hadn't told me his name yet. It is a bit of a giveaway."

"Yeah," Kagome agreed.

It was her mother's turn to sigh, although it wasn't in relief.

"I do hope you know what you're doing. Not everyone is going to approve."

"Oh, I've already gotten my fair share of looks at school," Kagome admitted then.

Without copping to the fact that she'd slept with Inuyasha the night she'd met him, and as a result she had first received those _looks_ several months ago, she did confess that she and Inuyasha were intimate _now_ , and that some of her full youkai classmates could smell it. It depended on the youkai species, of course, but just about any animal-based youkai had a phenomenal sense of smell. They did _not_ approve of her relationship with Inuyasha, if the looks shot her way were any indication, even though nobody had ever actually met him or said anything to her face about it. Besides, she already hadn't been in their clique, anyway, what with her being a miko and all, so anyone who was going to be that shallow and shoot her nasty glares while making a show of sniffing the air in her direction was nobody she wanted to be friends with, anyway.

Glad to hear that Kagome wasn't letting what her peers thought affect her schooling, not to mention the fact that she was glad this Inuyasha boy was supportive of Kagome's schooling and career goals, _and_ okay with the fact that she was a very powerful miko – although she supposed having Miroku for a cousin helped in that arena – Mrs. Higurashi then told her daughter that she expected Inuyasha to be brought home for dinner and a proper introduction to the family.

Grinning, Kagome readily agreed.

Lightly scolding her daughter, then, Mrs. Higurashi reprimanded Kagome, not for loving a hanyou, but for fearing their reactions. She was a grown woman, an _independent_ woman, a _Higurashi_ , and after the fiasco with Hojo Mrs. Higurashi felt Kagome should have realized that if there was one thing the women of their family were known for, it was following their hearts.

"Don't you worry about your father," she assured Kagome then. "I'll speak with him."

"Thanks Mama, I love you," Kagome said.

"I love you too, dear," Mrs. Higurashi replied before pulling her daughter into a hug.

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

The next morning, it was Mr. Higurashi who wanted to have a word with his daughter, before she left for school.

Kagome kept her head held high as her father quizzed her about her feelings for someone he'd not only never met, but hadn't even known existed until his wife told him about their daughter's confession. Mr. Higurashi was silently impressed with how well Kagome handled herself during his subsequent inquisition, too, answering each of his questions honestly and without hesitation.

Well, as honestly as she was prepared to answer them, at least, since when he asked her how she'd originally met Inuyasha she told him the same abridged version of the story she'd told her mother. If he sensed there was something more behind her saying that she and Sango had ended up meeting Inuyasha and Miroku during their night out and that the four of them had ended up 'hanging out together' before exchanging numbers he didn't push her on that matter.

Instead, he reminded her of what had happened with Hojo, asked about her schooling and career plans, asked her about _Inuyasha's_ schooling and career plans, and just generally if she'd thought things through regarding what this would mean not only for her, but the entire Higurashi family. If she married someone who couldn't sire children then she would not be able to pass on her reiki to the next generation.

Kagome replied that she most certainly hadn't forgotten about the disaster that was Hojo and that she had no intention of giving up her schooling or career goals, nor did Inuyasha want her to. He fully supported her desire to become a doctor and eventually open her own private practice, and he was actually _proud_ of her for having such a goal. She also told her father that while Inuyasha had no advanced education or career goals of his own, he had an inexhaustible trust fund, and so _his_ goal was most certainly not to freeload off of her because he was far richer than _they_ were. In fact, she also told her father that once she was fully licensed, she wouldn't be surprised if as a congratulatory gift Inuyasha actually bought her the building she wanted to open her private practice in. He'd already told her he that would help her out financially if she wanted or needed him to.

Addressing her father's other statements, then, Kagome also explained how of course she'd thought it through, which was why she and Inuyasha had agreed to date each other for a while _before_ she told her family about him, just in case their relationship wouldn't have worked out. She was only telling them about him now because she knew, now, that she loved him and he was a keeper. She also pointed out how, if she had married Hojo, she would have then been joining the _Hojo_ family. As a Higurashi _daughter_ , she would be joining the family of whichever man she eventually married, and would at that time no longer _be_ a Higurashi, which meant that her decision to be with someone who could not sire children didn't really affect the Higurashi family at all, since it had never been her place to carry on the Higurashi line, regardless. That job had always belonged to Souta, as her father's first born _son_.

Plus she also admitted that she didn't really want to have children, anyway, or at least not until after establishing her career first, because she didn't feel like juggling the two simultaneously. While it was true she almost definitely would have ended up having children with Hojo if she'd sucked it up and married him, it would have been _instead_ of her career, and she would've been utterly miserable as a result.

"What you and Mama want most for me is my happiness, isn't it?"

Listening to everything his daughter said, Mr. Higurashi nodded as he went through a mental list to see if he'd possibly forgotten anything.

Not turning her back on future generations of Higurashis as it'd never been her place to carry that mantle in the first place, not turning her back on her career dreams as Inuyasha was fully supportive in that regard, not potentially taking in a vagrant who was only using her for the money she'd earn from said career because he was independently wealthy, not to mention she was in _love_ with him, and he her... Kagome's father checked off his mental list of potential objections, openly impressed by each of her rebuttals. Her argument was sound.

And his third degree had really just been a test, of course. She was bound to face _much_ worse if this was the path she was choosing for herself, so he'd wanted to see how well prepared she really was, mentally, to defend herself and her love life over and over again.

"Do you love Inuyasha enough to stand by him even if this whole thing explodes in the news as a huge scandal?" he asked her then. "A powerful Higurashi miko hooking up with a hanyou...you two might end up on the cover of a tabloid."

Raising an eyebrow, Kagome avoided answering his question directly by asking him in turn, "Do you love _me_ enough to stand by _me_ if my relationship with Inuyasha explodes into a huge scandal in the tabloids?"

What was more important to him? His daughter, or his image?

Mr. Higurashi sighed.

"You know I do," he said. He didn't even have to think about it.

Kagome offered him a small but genuine smile, then.

"That's all that matters," she replied. "I don't give a shit what strangers think, but-"

"Language," he interrupted, chuckling lightly because they both knew he wasn't really serious.

She just rolled her eyes.

"All that matters to me is you and Mama not disapproving," she continued. "The last thing I want to do is alienate you guys, but I love him, and I plan on moving in with him as soon as I can. We don't see nearly enough of each other because of medical school, so I want to be able to come home to him every evening."

Mr. Higurashi frowned a little at that.

"I don't like the idea of you living with _any_ man you're not married to yet, but I suppose this _is_ the 21st century." He sighed again. "You two _do_ plan on getting married, though, right? Your mother said you told her he was the one."

"I mean, we haven't talked about getting married, specifically, like discussing wedding plans, but we've both said we love each other and want to stay together. He's told me he'll support me every step of the way regarding my medical career, and that's going to take years still, so...yeah, we're definitely committed to each other. Neither of us have asked the cliché 'will you marry me' but it just seems like it's kind of a given, just like how Hojo used to talk about he and I except this time, I'm in complete agreement."

"Then do you think you two could do an old man a favor?" he asked her, smiling.

"Dad, you're not old," Kagome argued, rolling her eyes again.

"Flattery will get you everywhere," he teased his daughter.

She giggled.

Clearing his throat, he got more serious, then, and said, "If you're going to move in with him, I want you two officially engaged, at the very least. Married would be better, but I understand you don't have time to deal with planning a wedding right now, so I'll settle for engaged."

Kagome just grinned.

"That shouldn't be a problem."

"And he's coming to dinner, tonight."

Her father's huge smile only made Kagome's own grin get even bigger."

oOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoOo

Discussing everything with Inuyasha later that day during her lunch break, the hanyou was both elated and nervous as hell at the idea of meeting her family... _that night_...but Kagome just told him to be himself, because that was what had attracted her to him in the first place.

"Oh? And here I thought it was my exotic youkai features that attracted you to me," he teased back quietly while wiggling his ears. They were currently the only patrons in the fast food burger joint.

Kagome giggled.

"Well, that too," she admitted, reaching across the table to tweak his right ear with her left hand.

Smiling, he caught her left hand with his right on its way back down, turning it to look at the back of her hand.

"And we're gonna need to get a diamond on that sucker, too," he said, affectionately rubbing his thumb over her bare ring finger. "By tonight, if possible. Do you think we can squeeze in a shopping trip after your last class? I'm sure your father would be okay with just my word that I'll get you a ring asap, but I'd like to show him just how serious I really am."

When Kagome'd told him about her father's 'condition' on her moving in with him, his response had been to smile so wide it'd showcased his fangs, and then he'd dropped to a knee and asked the official "Will you marry me?" grinning even wider as she'd giggled before answering, "Yes, you big dummy! That's the whole point!"

"I'm not picky," she told him then. "If you want to go ahead and get my ring so that I have it for tonight, that's fine with me. I wear a size seven."

"Oh come on, you're gonna trust me to do shopping _that_ important all by myself?" he whined playfully. "I can't do something like that without your help!"

Deliberately, and because they were still alone save for the worker behind the counter who wasn't paying them any attention, he let out a quiet whimper, allowing his ears to droop as he flashed her sad puppy dog eyes.

Laughing before sighing in faux sympathy, Kagome took one last sip of her nearly empty soda, her mid-day break between classes already almost over, and then said, "I just don't really have the time to..." Pausing, her eyes opened wide as a thought struck her. "I have an idea."

Inuyasha's ears sprang forward to give her his undivided attention. "Which is?"

Kagome then suggested that he could go to whichever jewelry store he wanted to, which knowing him would be one of the most prestigious ones in town with the most expensive rings possible, she joked, which he didn't deny. She emphasized then that a ridiculously expensive ring wasn't necessary for _her_ sake, but she also acknowledged that she understood and appreciated his desire to get her the very best his money could buy. His insecurity, she knew, was only when it came to picking out the specific design of the ring, since they varied so much those days. So she suggested her idea, which was that he pick out a small collection of what he felt were all the very best ones, and then he could text her pictures of them all and she'd make her own final selection from the choices via text.

Pleased with her idea, saying it was a compromise he could work with, Inuyasha downed the last of his own soda and then throwing away their trash, he walked with Kagome out of the burger joint located near his apartment and drove her back to her school. The fast food restaurants closer to the college were always swamped at lunch time and they greatly preferred the privacy of this lesser used establishment, so he didn't mind picking Kagome up for lunch and then taking her back to school again afterwards. Fortunately, she had a large enough gap between midday classes this year to make the trip feasible.

It was also fortunate that his apartment was about the same distance away from campus as her current home was, though granted, in a different direction. But given the reputation of Club Taboo, some people traveled greater distances to party at that club, especially considering one could just get a room at the hotel for the night if necessary. So just because they had met at the local club hadn't automatically meant they were both _local_ , and that was one of the very first things he and Kagome had discussed during their initial text messaging sessions, considering neither of them had thought to inquire about it that first morning after in the hotel.

Kagome had assumed he was local, of course, considering she knew he and Miroku hadn't had their own room at the hotel, but since she and Sango _had_ had rooms, Inuyasha had been relieved to learn that she was a local girl, as well.

Of course, he would've driven an hour, two, _three,_ each way, every day, if it'd meant having a chance to date Kagome. And now that she was going to be moving in with him? He wouldn't hesitate to get a different apartment if she asked him to, if she wanted to be closer to her school. All she had to do was say the word. But already used to the approximately twenty drive from the shrine, depending on traffic, Kagome had said she saw no need to force Inuyasha to give up the apartment that'd been his home ever since he'd turned eighteen and moved out of his mother's own luxury apartment.

Speaking of Izayoi, Kagome had managed to squeeze in meeting her in person about a month ago. It had been much easier for Inuyasha to tell his mother that _he'd_ found 'the one' and that she was a miko. Izayoi had been thrilled to meet Kagome, and had understood her hesitance to tell her parents, not making her feel guilty in the slightest for worrying about what they might think.

Still, looking back on her fears from only the previous day, until she'd finally come clean with her mother last night, Kagome did feel guilty for worrying about how her parents might react. She should have known they weren't racist assholes. It was always 'image' this and 'propriety' that, but never once had she ever heard either her mother or father speak ill of the existence of hanyou or interracial couples. And indeed, she hadn't necessarily been worried that they specifically wouldn't approve because they _didn't approve_ , but rather, she'd feared they'd have an air of 'but what will society think' about them, the more casual racism of shifting the blame and claiming that they'd be fine with it if society as a whole was, but because society _wasn't_ okay with it, she needed to think about her reputation because they wanted what was best for her, yada yada yada.

She had never been so happy to be so wrong.

And while the idea of society as a whole disapproving was, unfortunately, true, she'd known that going in and had already been doing a lot of thinking on the subject, wondering how difficult it might become to open her own private practice if snooty human parents didn't want to take their children to see the miko doctor who was married to the hanyou. Fortunately, she'd already thought of the perfect solution. She'd own it and become a pediatrician that, while not excluding human and youkai children, would specialize in _hanyou_ children. So there.

"Fuck society," she muttered under her breath during the drive back to school, probably too quietly for a human man to have heard her, or at least understood what she'd said.

"Don't know what you're thinking, but I agree," Inuyasha chimed in, not reminding her of his superior hearing because she hadn't forgotten.

She flashed him a brilliant smile at his comment and jokingly said, "Just thinking about the design for my business sign, and wondering if your mom's got any cute baby pictures I could use."

"What?" he laughed, completely confused.

As he pulled into the parking lot of her university, she told him what she'd actually been thinking about, since she hadn't yet shared that idea with him, and he let her know what he thought of her modified career plans by pulling her into a heated kiss that earned them a few disgusted looks from other students milling about the parking lot, youkai and human alike.

They both knew they had an audience and neither of them cared.

Later that afternoon, Inuyasha, having known when Kagome's next short break between classes was and coordinating his shopping trip accordingly, sent her ten different text messages, each one containing a picture of three rings, giving her a total of thirty designs to choose from.

 _Jeez, he wasn't kidding when he said he couldn't decide this one on his own_ , she thought with a chuckle.

And he had _not_ included their prices, so she couldn't try to pull one over on him like choosing the least expensive one. He'd already warned her not to let price be a consideration. He could afford it. He wanted her to have the ring she _wanted_ most of all, regardless of whether it was the most or least expensive from his selections.

And what selections! They were all _gorgeous,_ and suddenly Kagome could sympathize with his inability to choose because she found herself having nearly as difficult a time of it. But still, flipping through the pictures – which his text messages had all numbered, with the individual rings being numbered as they appeared, one through thirty – she didn't take _too_ long to pick out the one she decided she liked the very best among the choices. They were _all_ beautiful, and honestly she would've been just fine with any one of them, but still, she picked the one she honestly thought of as her favorite in the bunch.

He had it waiting for her as he met her at school again at the end of her last class, and she didn't hesitate to let him slip it on her finger.

He followed her back to her parents' house, then. He momentarily contemplated just leaving his car at the school and riding with her, but it'd take too long to walk back to his car afterwards without using his youkai speed, which was frowned upon the same way human kids on skateboards zipping in between people on the sidewalk would be frowned upon, and so he figured he'd just better follow Kagome to the shrine in his own car while she drove hers.

Traffic wasn't bad, so it took them a little under twenty minutes to reach the Higurashi shrine. Arriving at the shrine grounds, Inuyasha could feel a tingling against his skin from the holy energy in the earth and air around them, but it wasn't painful and didn't feel threatening. In fact, the area almost seemed to welcome him, as if the local kami knew who he was and why he was there.

Perhaps they did.

Passing the area where visitors always parked, he followed Kagome onto the small road off to the side with the 'private property' sign. It curved up and around the hill the shrine was built upon to arrive at the back of the massive property, where the private residence was located. Parking his car beside hers, they both got out of their vehicles and each could see it as the other took a shaky, reassuring breath.

They needn't have worried.

Kagome's mother greeted them warmly at the door, and Inuyasha, who was dressed immaculately in a dark gray suit, bowed respectfully as he properly introduced himself. Then it was Kagome's father's turn, and much to the miko's surprise, he was the one who insisted they drop formalities, when the hanyou addressed him as Mr. Higurashi, telling Inuyasha that since they would be family soon enough he could go ahead and just call him by his first name.

"That is, if you don't mind me just calling you Inuyasha," he added.

"Not at all," Inuyasha replied without hesitation.

Slipping off their shoes as Inuyasha and Kagome entered into the rest of the house, he met her younger brother Souta next, who shook his hand without showing any hesitation regarding the hanyou's claws.

Dinner went off without a hitch.

Kagome's parents and brother were curious, and Inuyasha was honest, regarding the scandal surrounding his birth. Mrs. Higurashi had asked if his parents were still together, so he'd confessed about the affair, and that although his father's marriage to his half-brother's mother was long since over, his father had never actually married his mother. But Toga Taisho did love Izayoi, and he was still there for her to the best of his ability.

Kagome's family not only did not look down on Inuyasha for being a bastard child from an affair, they were shocked and appalled to learn the true extent of animosity his human family, save for Miroku and their mothers, felt for him. Kagome's father even said that, while he could understand why Izayoi's parents would've been disappointed in her, at the end of the day she was still their daughter and Inuyasha, their grandchild. He, especially, did not deserve their ire, Kagome's father expressed, since he was guilty of nothing except being born the way the kami had made him.

"And no, I'm not disappointed in you, either," he elaborated without prompting, meeting Kagome's eyes for a moment. "Your situation is completely different."

Mr. Higurashi then looked Inuyasha in the eyes again and said, "The Higurashi name can survive whatever people try to throw at it, so like I told Kagome this morning, we will stand by her even if your relationship makes the tabloids. We will stand by _both_ of you. I don't care about gossip, I care about my little girl."

Unsure what Inuyasha might or might not already know about Hojo, he added, "I had actually wanted her to marry someone else, whom I'd thought would be the perfect match for her. He came from a good family, was a powerful reiki user, but then he turned out to be disrespectful of Kagome and I supported her decision to break it off. At the end of the day, her happiness is what matters most to my wife and I. So if you are who she wants, your heritage is not an issue. The only thing that's going to upset me is if you end up breaking her heart."

Kagome's father was being diplomatic, but then Souta chimed in with, "You hurt my sister, I hurt you."

"Souta..." their mother admonished, but Souta wasn't racist, he was just protective of his sister. He'd wanted to deck Hojo for his assholitry until Kagome had shared with him the public humiliation she'd dished out in the busy restaurant.

For his part, Inuyasha wasn't offended in the slightest.

"As a reiki user, you actually _can_ hurt me," he admitted, "and if I ever hurt your sister, I would want you to."

Mrs. Higurashi grinned at the sincerity in Inuyasha's eyes, as Souta merely nodded his approval. She could see it, plain as day. Inuyasha loved her daughter, and one glance at Kagome confirmed the feeling was mutual.

One glance at the ring on Kagome's finger confirmed Inuyasha's finances, too, not that she'd have disapproved of the union if he'd been poor. Not so long as his love for Kagome was real. It _was_ reassuring, though, to know that not only was he not possibly using their daughter for money, but he could actually provide for her if need be.

The entire evening was a relatively pleasant affair. Inuyasha stayed for a while longer after dinner, continuing to speak with Kagome's parents, answering every questions they had, but it did not feel like an interrogation and he didn't get the sense he was unwelcome. He could understand why they wanted to get to know him, since while he and Kagome had spent several months getting to know everything about each other the rest of her family had been unaware he even existed until the previous night. Considering their relationship had been a huge surprise all the way around, the hanyou thought his miko girlfriend's parents were actually handling everything remarkably well.

 _Fianc_ _é_ _e..._ he corrected himself in his mind, grinning goofily at the though as he made his way out to his car at the end of the evening. Yes, they were engaged to be married, now.

Kagome's parents had given them their blessing for her to move in with him, but for tonight she would be staying at the place that was currently still her home. Especially since she had an early class in the morning. The actual act of moving in could wait until she had a day free. It wouldn't take that long for her to bring over her possessions, but then beyond that, to help make his apartment their _home_ , he was also willing to change out anything she wanted him to. Different dishes, different furniture… That sort of stuff could be done bit by bit though, a little bit at a time in and around her schedule. The most important thing was just getting her there. He was looking forward to it.


	9. How time flies

Chapter 9 – How time flies

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Moving her stuff into Inuyasha's apartment wasn't as surreal an experience as Kagome had expected it to be. Instead, as he relinquished half of his closet space to her, reorganizing some of his things into a newly purchased dresser they would also both be sharing, Kagome found that hanging the clothes she didn't want to fold in her half of his closet felt as natural as spending an entire night on her side of his bed.

No longer did she have to pop over for a quickie in between classes or, if she could manage it, spend an hour or two with him while out running 'errands' before returning home for the night. Inuyasha's apartment _was_ her home, now, and it didn't take long for either of them to fall into a comfortable daily routine. There were no surprises because they'd already quizzed each other about their habits and rituals long before then.

Inuyasha knew Kagome was no fan of being in front of the stove, and so he always made sure he had a fabulous restaurant bought dinner waiting for her when she came home in the evenings from her late classes. Quick and easy breakfasts worked for both of them, and he still met her almost daily for lunch. Inuyasha was happy to continue doing whatever few dishes there were to be done, explaining that he was already used to doing so and his high tech dishwasher also made the task a breeze. In an attempt to be fair and share the load, then, Kagome said she'd take on the 'wifely duty' of doing the laundry, but when Inuyasha said he didn't mind continuing to do his own laundry, too, seeing as she was so busy with her classes, Kagome relented and insisted only on at least doing her own.

She also joked that it was about time she finally had to do her own laundry, since up until moving out of her childhood home her mother had been happy to do it for her, but the miko also admitted that if she was going to have to do it, his top of the line washer _and dryer_ definitely made the task much easier than it otherwise would have been.

His apartment had all the top of the line amenities. As he'd explained it, since the rest of the world kind of sucked, he'd figured he might as well make sure to enjoy his private life at home in as much luxury as possible. He could certainly afford it, and Kagome couldn't fault his logic one bit. Her favorite was hands down the giant master bathroom that had a huge shower with multiple shower heads coming out of the walls and ceiling _and_ a separate massive soaking tub complete with air jets.

Weeks turned into months, and then before they knew it, a full year had gone by since that first fateful night at Club Taboo, and while they were engaged to appease her father but had no actual plans for their eventual wedding while Kagome was still so busy with her schooling, the same couldn't be said for Sango and Miroku, whose wedding was just around the corner. Kagome, being Sango's maid of honor, somehow found the time to do her few maid of honor duties, mostly because Inuyasha relinquished his claim on what little spare time she usually spent with him during the day, but she had no problem making it up to him at night.

Besides, just because he didn't have to help Miroku pick out a tux or keep track of the gift registry didn't mean he wasn't busy in his own way as his cousin's best man.

The bachelor party was the easy part. Sango had given her husband-to-be her blessing to have as many strippers as he wanted, and a little touchy-feely in the form of lap dances and the like was also a-okay. He just wasn't allowed to actually _cheat_ on her, and not that Miroku had any intention of being unfaithful to his bride, anyway, but he also knew his hanyou cousin would smell it in an instant if he were, which was Sango's insurance. Inuyasha just threw some money at the best strip club in town and supervised while Miroku and some of the houshi's other friends who didn't mind Inuyasha's company all had the time of their lives. Inuyasha would be lying if he said he didn't also enjoy the party, although he stayed sober to be Miroku's ride home while the houshi got completely shit faced.

That was the easy part.

The hard part was coming up with whatever the fuck he was supposed to say during his best man speech after the wedding ceremony, and also he was just generally freaking out about the idea of being his cousin's best man when save for his mother and aunt, the entire rest of his human family wished he'd never been born.

Surprisingly, though, despite a few people's initial objections – he'd heard all the juicy gossip from Miroku, since he never actually spoke to any of those people – the family eventually relented at Miroku's insistence and accepted the fact that he was going to be front and center throughout the ceremony. No one in their family declined to attend the wedding because of Inuyasha, because that would have just been snubbing Miroku and, more importantly, Sango. That Miroku's bride-to-be came from such a well-known and well-established family, who did not disapprove of the union, his mother's family knew to be on their best behavior.

As for the martial artist's family, they were far more concerned with Miroku's family on his _father's_ side, where there were a lot of reiki users. Miroku came from a long line of powerful houshi on his father's side and so as far as Sango's family was concerned, it was a good match. It was almost guaranteed that at least one of Miroku and Sango's future children would be reiki users as well, and so the fact that there was also an illegitimate hanyou in the family on Miroku's mother's side made no difference to them.

Though it certainly didn't hurt that Inuyasha's youkai father was so powerful – literally and financially – and that regardless of the scandal his birth had caused over two decades ago, Inuyasha was now filthy rich _and_ engaged to none other than Kagome Higurashi.

Besides his mother and aunt nobody else in his family spoke with Inuyasha at the wedding, of course, not that any of them were _rude_ to him, either. It was all a game of keeping up appearances, and everybody knew it, including the hanyou. For his part, Inuyasha didn't say or do anything to disappoint his family further, making no public spectacles. The actual ceremony went off without a hitch, and when it was time for him to give the speech, despite his nerves his words were professional and well-spoken, with a few appropriately placed jokes that Miroku had actually helped him write.

After Miroku and Sango shared the first dance, when it was time for everyone else to join in, Inuyasha danced with Kagome not just because it was his duty as the best man to dance with the maid of honor, but also because he was her fiancé, and the love they felt for each other was obvious to everyone watching. His family knew they were engaged, of course, and just had to be _dreading_ the day it was time for his _own_ wedding. They would actually have to speak to him then, and nicely, because he would be marrying a girl who came from a family a hell of a lot better than _they_ were. The thought made him hide a secret smirk.

He was looking forward to it.

But he was in no hurry, and wouldn't push Kagome to get married before she was ready. The miko had no doubt in her mind that she wanted to spend the rest of her life with him, but when it came to planning her wedding she wanted to be able to give the special event her undivided attention, and she simple couldn't do that right now while she was still in medical school. He completely understood that. He _had_ toyed with the idea of them just getting married in a courthouse to get the legality of it over with and then doing an elaborate public wedding ceremony later, but Kagome had said she wanted the ceremony to be the real thing and he understood and respected that, as well.

At least with her already living with him, it wasn't that big of a deal to him. He would wait as long as he needed to.

And time continued to fly by, as time was wont to do. Before they knew it, Kagome was finished with her second year of med school.

During her third year she received fewer dirty looks from her peers with youkai noses. Perhaps they'd previously thought her relationship with Inuyasha was more casual and had disapproved of her being a slut, but now realized they were actually more serious? She honestly had no idea what anyone thought, as none of them ever talked to her about it, and she certainly wasn't going to broach the subject voluntarily because it was none of their damn business. She did, however, rock her engagement ring to class every day, and she suspected that for at least some of them that was enough to change their opinions, either because they realized she really loved him, or that he was really rich.

She also stopped training with Sango when the martial artist took time off upon discovering she was pregnant, though at that point it'd more just been regular sparring to stay sharp rather than actual training because Kagome had already long since passed the various courses Sango's family specialized in teaching. Inuyasha had observed their routines a few times and he was a fast learner, with the physical abilities to back it up, so with Sango's family's blessing he and Kagome continued to utilize their facility with him as her sparring partner so that she could continue with her normal routine.

It didn't take him long at all to get the hang of it and learn not to hold back quite so much when, on their first day training together, Kagome had him on _his_ back. Pretty soon he was giving as good as he got, already _intimately_ aware of just how much of his superior strength she could really take. But unlike Miroku, who'd joked that he wouldn't be able to 'control himself' if Sango dominated him in such a way, Inuyasha was a complete professional. The worst he ever did was flash Kagome a 'look' a few times and joke that she'd pay for something _later_ before getting right back to it.

It also didn't take long before some of the dojo's other clientele realized they liked the idea of having a demonic sparring partner, themselves, and while at first they were informed that Inuyasha did not work there, it also didn't take long for everyone involved to realize that that actually didn't need to be the case. It would at least give him something to _do_ with himself while Kagome was in class and, truth be told, since everyone had a different fighting style it was fun to mix things up a little bit.

Inuyasha required no salary, of course, and insisted on merely volunteering his time, but Sango's family made him an 'official' volunteer, including him on their liability insurance. Not that he'd ever seriously injure anyone, but accidents could happen and it was just a legal necessity. He wasn't considered 'higher risk' for being hanyou, and in fact _he_ was the one _taking_ the risk whenever he worked with people still learning how to control their reiki. Being half human, though, meant that at least it was impossible for even the strongest blast of reiki to cause him serious harm. His youki would automatically go dormant in self-defense before it got to that point, turning him temporarily human. Even the strongest reiki user in the world wouldn't be able to permanently purify a hanyou; centuries ago, before the humans and youkai had made peace with one another, some groups of humans had actually tried it.

It was probably a good thing they had failed, Inuyasha reflected, or the human laws regarding hanyou, back when those laws were being written, could have turned out a _lot_ differently.

He shuddered at the thought.

While he thought society's view of hanyou was fucked up, he definitely did _not_ want to become human. He knew that first hand from already becoming human one night a month. A detail he'd shared with Kagome along the way with them getting to know each other, although she hadn't actually gotten to see him in that form until after she'd moved in with him.

She'd known all hanyou had such a time, of course; the secret had merely been _when_ it was. That first new moon night together, although she'd known in theory what to expect, it had still been a shock to see him like that, but he was no less handsome to her that way, of course, and she'd made sure to prove it to him too.

He'd been with professionals on his human nights too, of course, women who'd had no idea he was really a hanyou, but with Kagome his human emotions had gotten the best of him, as he'd cried and gushed about how much he loved her. For Kagome's part, she had felt a little overwhelmed, herself, and in no way thought less of her future husband for revealing his vulnerabilities to her, both physically and emotionally. The next morning, she'd made sure to _prove_ to him that she didn't prefer his human form, and he definitely hadn't had any complaints.

Kagome's fourth year of medical school seemed to zip by. Sango and Miroku were now the proud parents of twin girls, Sango was on extended leave from her family's dojo, and Inuyasha continued to keep himself occupied while Kagome was in school by filling the void at the dojo Sango's absence had created. He had a few regular clients of his own, now, some reiki users, some not. All knew he was kin to Sango's husband and engaged to a Higurashi, so nobody ever acted like he had no business being there.

Once Kagome graduated from medical school she decided to take a year off before starting her residency. Finally, it was time to start planing their own wedding. Having lived together for two years now, there was no lingering illusion of them possibly rushing into anything. They were more than compatible as a couple.

They returned the favor to their friends by having Sango and Miroku function as maid of honor and best man, which meant Sango's job was made easier by Inuyasha and Kagome opting _not_ to have a registry for wedding gifts. People would be free to give more personable items as they saw fit, but there was nothing the preestablished couple actually _needed_ regarding their home life together, and if there were, Inuyasha would just buy it.

Sango and Kagome's other girlfriends did come up with quite a few 'personable' items to give _Kagome_ as gifts during her bridal shower, though, and most of them qualified as gifts for Inuyasha, as well.

The hanyou, meanwhile, against his better judgment, allowed Miroku to take him out for his own bachelor party, with Kagome's blessing of course. She knew he wouldn't stray. The 'leash' jokes got a little old after the fourth person made them, but he still had a great time running up one hell of a bar tab in order to consume enough alcohol to actually get him wasted. Miroku responsibly stayed sober in order to drive Inuyasha home at four in the morning, and Kagome got to find out that even shit faced, alcohol did not 'hinder' Inuyasha's body the way it could a human male.

It did, however, make him arguably even more emotional than his human night.

His slurred apologies for 'enjoying the view' at the club quickly morphed into reassurances that she was the only one he wanted from here on out, and that the only reason he had enjoyed himself as much as he had was because he was fantasizing about _her_. Kagome's response was to drop the robe she was wearing to the ground, revealing the bright red see-through negligee Sango had given her along with the matching red lace thong panties.

It was one hell of a night before the wedding.

The wedding itself was absolutely beautiful, though if you asked Inuyasha it wasn't as beautiful as Kagome in her fabulous designer wedding gown. The ceremony went off without a hitch, of course, the ceremony itself being held on the shrine grounds while the reception was held at a nearby hotel. _Not_ the same one where our couple had first met.

Inuyasha let Kagome's father pay for most of it, since Mr. Higurashi insisted on keeping with that particular tradition, but the holy man did permit the hanyou to blow some of his own money on extravagant extras, such as the ridiculously beautiful ice sculpture of the same holy tree, the Goshinboku, that the ceremony had been held at the base of. The five-tiered wedding cake was also ridiculously fancy, and it made Kagome want to roll her eyes, but she and Inuyasha had discussed it beforehand and she knew that such showing off was less about him wanting to impress _her –_ because he knew she didn't care – and instead it was more about proving himself worthy in everyone else's eyes.

There were many extended Higurashi family members who attended the reception, not to mention the hanyou's own family. Not only was Inuyasha's entire human family (reluctantly) in attendance, but his father and half-brother had also accepted their invitations, and while he was obviously not trying to impress _them_ by showing off his money, he definitely wanted to advertize the depth of his love and devotion for Kagome. Even Sesshoumaru had to admit the hanyou knew how to do things the right way. And while Sango's family had concentrated mostly on Miroku's lineage on his father's side and had been willing to overlook the houshi's hanyou cousin on his mother's side, Kagome's family were directly linking themselves to Inuyasha's family on _his_ father's side, so it was important for the inu-hanyou to embrace his demonic lineage as a Taisho.

Toga Taisho had frankly been amazed that the well-known shrine family had been so open-minded, although he'd known of Kagome even before their engagement because Izayoi had told him the good news shortly after the first time she'd met the young miko. He had been both hopeful and doubtful that her family would approve of the union, and the daiyoukai had never been happier for the latter worry to be proven unfounded.

The newlyweds spent their wedding night in the hotel that hosted their reception, in the penthouse. Inuyasha didn't let Kagome get much sleep as they spent the night trying out more of the 'gifts' she'd received during her bridal shower, but he made it up to her the next day by letting her sleep in as long as she wanted. They had the room for two more nights and he planned on spoiling her rotten, whether that meant making her hoarse from screaming her pleasure or letting her laze in bed chowing down on gourmet room service.

When it was finally time to rejoin the real world it wasn't much of a sacrifice, since it meant going back to the luxury apartment she shared with her husband.

Husband.

She liked the sound of that.

Continuing with her schooling, it wasn't long before Kagome started her residency in a local hospital's children's ward. She made no effort to conceal who – or as some would say, what – she was married to, but neither did she go out of her way to advertize it. Her demonic coworkers could once again smell him on her, but she was married now, and everyone was a bit older and more mature working in the hospital compared to her fellow students back in her second year of medical school, so she received far fewer nasty glares as most of the people she interacted with remained completely professional, at least on the outside.

Even when her marriage to Inuyasha actually _did_ appear in the grocery store tabloids – _"Higurashi miko marries hanyou!"_ – she didn't let it get her down. A couple of the receptionists at the hospital she worked at even pointed it out to her, but only to congratulate her on looking so hot in her paparazzi photos. One of the two receptionists, both of whom were human women, even told Kagome that Inuyasha was hot, too. That made Kagome smile. There was hope for the rest of the world, yet.

As for the hanyou, Inuyasha continued to keep himself busy while Kagome was at work by working his volunteer shifts at Sango's dojo, but he also figured it wouldn't hurt to get the ball rolling on his wife's eventual private practice. On her days off he and Kagome shopped around for available buildings until finding what felt like the perfect location. He had no need to take out a loan and bought the building outright, Kagome unable to argue because now that they were married, his money was her money, and he'd told her he wouldn't hear a single peep about her not wanting him to spend 'his money' on her in such a way.

For her honor's sake, and because she had asked it of him and he would do whatever she asked, he let her work on paying her parents back for the money they'd spent on her education from her own paychecks. At least it was much easier for Kagome to afford paying back the private loan when she didn't need any of her paychecks for any _other_ expenses. He was quickly making her quite spoiled, she joked, a claim he refuted because she was such a hard worker, but the truth of it was he enjoyed spoiling her _because_ he knew she wasn't after his money.

Time went by at a steady pace, our happy couple falling into yet another comfortable routine. While Kagome built up her real life doctoring experience, Inuyasha worked on securing the necessary construction and licensing for the building that would eventually become her private practice, as well as the computers and all necessary medical equipment. It was a slow process because they took the time to research everything first, but all the more reason why he wanted to work on it while Kagome worked at the hospital. The idea was to ultimately have the place be ready to take on staff and open to the public so that when the time came that Kagome's residency was over, instead of either staying on at that hospital or picking up a job anywhere else, she would be able to transition straight into running her own practice.

As her time at the hospital progressed she spoke more openly about her endgame with some of her coworkers, too, offering some of the newer residents jobs when their own residencies were up. She made it no secret that while her pediatric practice would cater to all children, she was going to specialize in _hanyou_ children, so if anyone had a problem with that then they weren't the right people for the job, but she wanted a mixed staff of humans, youkai and hanyou if at all possible.

In fact, it turned out to be very possible. When her practice opened, 'Dr. Taisho' had her mixed staff, including a horse hanyou who'd just graduated from nursing school and had been having trouble finding a job elsewhere due to his unusually large stature. Fortunately, the building they'd chosen had been fairly large to begin with, and enlarging the doorways to every room had already been something Kagome and Inuyasha had taken care of in the initial stages of conversion, since hanyou as well as full-blooded youkai came in many shapes and sizes and they'd already known they needed to be as accommodating as possible.

Kagome didn't receive _too_ much criticism for becoming so publicly pro-hanyou. While she was technically a Taisho now, her Higurashi heritage, not to mention her standing as a very powerful miko, still carried a great deal of weight in the public eye, and whenever her choice of husband and/or career was brought up around her parents they expressed nothing but their utmost pride in their daughter. She did have her naysayers, but she never let it get her down. Society as a whole wasn't going to change with a single miko doctor, but Kagome was definitely leaving her mark in the history books. Especially by also accepting poor patients without insurance and not requiring any cash payments up front. They could send her monthly payments of whatever they could afford, and worst case scenario, if someone defaulted on their medical bills, she just wrote it off without a fuss. It wasn't about the money, it was about helping the children.

That was even a quote she gave when someone interviewed her on the subject.

All in all, she and Inuyasha had a good life. She would say she owed Sango one, but then, the martial artist had also met her own husband on that outing, and was now a mother of three, so as far as Kagome was concerned the woman had already been sufficiently rewarded for her role in Kagome's happiness. Perhaps it was to Hojo that she truly owed her thanks. If he hadn't been such an asshole then she probably would have married him. Last she'd heard he'd eventually gotten married to some other miko, and because she was not a vindictive person, she sincerely hoped that they too were happy. Still, the giant billboards with her smiling picture on them did make her chuckle at the thought of Hojo having to possibly drive by one on a daily basis. That was good enough in the 'in your face' department for her.

Life was good.

 _Fin_

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This could go on forever so I had to end it _somewhere_. Story already ended up being way longer than originally intended, LOL. Hope you all enjoyed it! No, I will not be making a sequel! LOL


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